


Mafiatale (DISCONTINUED)

by Kastrallis



Series: Protectors [4]
Category: Mafiatale - Fandom, Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: GUNS!!!, Gang Wars, Gen, More tags to be added, OMG Minx voluntarily gets in a dress, Pie, Spiders, Strong lauguage, all of the guns!, cuz there's mafia, dafuq!?, did I mention mafia, don't worry he's fine, fuck jerry am i right, gaster's alive!?, hurt skullface, lots and lots of spiders, mafia, oh noes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-20
Updated: 2018-07-24
Packaged: 2018-08-23 12:25:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 22,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8327752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kastrallis/pseuds/Kastrallis
Summary: Minx takes on a new AU, in which she gets a dress, a gun, and possibly a new object of her affection...And no it's not Toriel's pie. Just to let you know, Sans goes by the name 'Skullface', and Papyrus goes by the name 'Sniper'. I'm basing Skullface heavily on the version of him in Moontamble's story, 'House of Sans'.If you haven't read the other parts in the Protectors series, I recommend you do so you know what's going on. Oh, and I have a description of Minx in my works, if you wanna read that.NOTE:: Undertale belongs to Toby Fox; Mafiatale belongs to KID...I think. Correct me if I'm wrong.





	1. Caretakers

     Huh, no Error and Gaster this time around? Oh well, didn’t miss seeing their ugly mugs, anyway.

     You know you’re used to dimension hopping when those are your first thoughts when you wake up in a damn alleyway. I coughed and took a glance at my surroundings. Since I couldn’t do that very well from my position, I stood up and exited into the streets to get a better look.

     The first thing I noticed was the kind of clothes everyone was wearing; old style dresses and tuxes. Then I noticed Monster Kid standing on a box, trying to shout “Extra! Extra!” with a newspaper in his mouth, due his lack of arms. Instinctively I strode over to help him. I noted his clothes – a tailcoat that was too big, and baggy pants that looked like he’d trip over them if he took one step. There was also a small Delta Rune on the front of his coat. Weird.

     He looked at me inquisitively, and I smiled and spoke. “Mind if I give ya a **_hand?_** _”_ (Yeah I know my humor’s morbid.)

    His eyes lit up, and he spit out the newspaper into my hand. It was a bit soggy from being in his mouth for who-knows-how-long. I helped him hand out papers for a while, shouting “Extra! Extra!” with him (I had put aside the one that had been in his mouth).

     After a while, I felt someone’s eyes on me, and I discreetly took a glance around to see who could be staring at me. To be fair, almost everyone was; they’d never seen me before. In fact, I probably should’ve thought this through before just stepping out into the open, but oh well. What’s done is done.

     “Yo! Thanks for helpin’!” the little one said cheerily before hopping off of his box, landing in front of me with a little crunch in the snow. “The name’s Monster Kid, but everyone just calls me Kid. What’s yours?”

     “Minx,” I almost offered him a handshake, but then I resorted to just patting him on the head.

     “Hey! How about I take ya back to my place? I’m sure Toriel wouldn’t mind,” he suggested.

     “Why Kid, dare I say you’re makin’ a move on me?” I teased.

     “Mayybe~” he sang. “Well, let’s get goin’; I’m s’posta be home before dark, anyway.” He skipped off, tripping a few times.

     I smiled and followed him, glancing over my shoulder one last time. I could’ve sworn I saw a shadow darting between the crowds, but I tried my best to shrug it off as my out-of-control paranoia.

     There was one thing I did _not_ miss about this whole fucking thing; that was the cold. Despite my best efforts, I still started shivering after a little while.

     Kid noticed. “Ya ain’t dressed for the weather, are ya?”

     I mustered a smile. “Guess not,” I gave a chilled laugh before letting out a huge sneeze, which seemed to startle Kid.

     “Don’t worry, we’re almost there, just chill out for a minute,” he chirped.

     “I think I got that covered,” I muttered.

     Suddenly a wild door to the Ruins appeared! (Dat reference doe) Kid banged on it with his head four times, and it opened. Some kind of magic spell on it or something, I guessed. We stepped inside, and I tried to soak up all of the warm air I could through my frozen skin.

     Kid kicked the door closed before trotting off down the hall, tossing his head for me to follow, which I did the best I could. Damn this kid was fast!

     We both nearly tripped on the stairs, but we recovered quickly and ran up the rest. I don’t know why I was so giddy all the sudden, but once we reached the top, I understood why. The smell of butterscotch cinnamon pie decorated the air with a sweet scent, and I breathed it into my lungs in huge gulps. You don’t know how much you’ve missed something until you have it again, let me tell you.

     “Yo, Tori!” Kid yelled, leading me to the kitchen. “We got a visitor!”

     “Oh, we d-“ she stopped when she saw me, making my ears twitch slightly back in concern. Though her features remained suspicious, she smiled. “Why hello, who might you be?”

     “Minx,” I said bravely.

     “She’s alright,” Kid spoke up, “She helped me in the town with the papers.”

     “Oh, well in that case,” her face softened a little, “I am Toriel, leader of the Caretakers. Why don’t you two have a slice of pie? I’m sure it’s been a long day.” She reached behind her and took a freshly baked pie off of the counter.

     “I’d love a piece,” I said, Kid wildly nodding his agreement.

     While Toriel nimbly sliced two pieces for us, I took the chance to study her purple floral dress. It was collared with white buttons, long sleeves, and poofs at the shoulders. It almost reached to her ankles and swished gently when she moved. Oh, and a hat with a buttercup stitched on the front. This all registered in my mind in a matter of seconds before she turned back around and handed each of us a plate of pie, heaping with whipped cream. She carefully placed Kid’s on his head, and handed me mine. I gratefully dug in with the fork she provided, humming in satisfaction when it melted, just like the first time I tasted it.

     When I gave my dish to Toriel and looked over at Kid, he had somehow already eaten his piece and was offering the plate back to her, who put it in the sink to deal with later. I again shrugged it off and turned to the goat monster. “Thanks for the pie, it really hit the spot.”

     She giggled. “You’re quite welcome. Kid, why don’t you run around the Ruins for a little while?” after he had left, she smiled at me, “Come have a seat, won’t you?” she led me to the kitchen table.

     I sat down and squirmed a little under her calculating stare. She didn’t look by any means unfriendly; just the way she was looking at me made me uncomfortable.

     “You’re not from around here, are you?” she asked, tilting her head.

     Shit. “Uh…no, actually. How could you tell?” I tried to stay nonchalant, but I couldn’t help swallowing nervously at the end of my sentence.

     She smiled, making me feel a little better. “I could tell because of your clothes; I fear you may have attracted unwanted attention to yourself throughout the day. Come, I believe I have a change that will suit you.” She got up and helped me to my feet as she was speaking.

     We both walked through a silence before I spoke. “…You’re not gonna ask me where I’m from or anything?”

     She glanced at me as she entered a room. “No, I have I feeling I already know. You know of the AUs, correct?”

     I started at the mention of them. “You know about ‘em too?”

     She nodded mysteriously before diving into the closet and digging through it. “Ink, as well. I’m supposing your presence here has something to do with the recent earthquakes?”

     “Earthquakes?” I echoed. Then I remembered how some of the AU papers would fall off of the wall in Ink’s room. “Oh! Yeah.”

     She said something, but her voice was muffled by the clothes, some of which she was throwing out of the closet entirely. “Ah! Here it is!” she exclaimed as she stepped back out, holding up a gray-blue dress. “This was mine when I was young, so I have no use for it anymore.” She held it up to me.

     “You want me to have it?” I asked incredulously.

     “Of course, child. It will help you to blend in better, anyway,” she smiled and nodded. “Try it on! See if it fits. There’s a spare bedroom around the corner.”

     I accepted the garment with shaking hands and followed her directions to the bedroom, slipping into the dress a few minutes later. I don’t usually like dresses (y’all know that by now), but this was from Toriel, plus it would help me to blend right in.

     There was a weird strip of leather with a notch in the middle, but I didn’t know what it was for and put the thing aside. I pulled my tail through the slit in the back and watched myself twirl in the mirror, nodding approvingly. The neckline dipped modestly below my collarbone, making it look nice without showing _too_ much. The short sleeves were at a length that I felt comfortable with, and it reached to about mid-shin; it hugged my sides, too. The bottom flared out when I turned, and I smiled to myself. I felt like a real lady.

     I exited the room to find Toriel leaning against the opposite wall, waiting for me. Her eyes lit up when she saw me.

     “How do I look?” I asked, turning in a circle.

     “Marvelous!” she exclaimed, clasping her hands together. “Now, to add some finishing touches. Can you grab that leather band and bring it to the other room?”

     “Uh, sure,” I said and did as she asked. When I got back to her room, she was waiting with darker gray-blue boots and hat. She helped me button the band around my waist, putting it so the notch was in the middle and handing the hat to me. I slipped my ears through the holes in the top that I assumed would’ve been for her horns and fixed it snugly. After that, I buttoned on the boots that covered up the remainders of my legs that were still showing.

     “Perfect,” Toriel commented before leading me to a mirror in the hallway. “What do you think?”

     “Ya got any dog tags or anything?” I asked, adjusting the neckline.

     “Sure,” she scurried back to her room and grabbed some.

     I slipped the tags over my head and smiled at my reflection. “There,” I said, _“Now_ it’s perfect. Thank you, you have no idea how much this means to me.”

     “You’re quite welcome, my child. Though could I just…braid your hair? The temptation is too much.”

     I hesitated, but the hopeful look on her face gave me sense of Kindness, and I relented, nodding.

     She squee’d and motioned for me to follow her to the living room, where she took out my pony tail and set to work. This was going to take a while – my hair is so long I can practically sit on it – so I decided to strike up a conversation. “So, uh…how do you know about the different dimensions?”

     She hummed in thought. “Well, I came across Ink in the Ruins one day. The poor dear got such a fright that I felt obligated to invite him in for some pie; I don’t think I was meant to see him,” she giggled. “He explained to me the concept of AUs; it struck me strange that there are different versions of myself, all scattered across time and space. Anyway, he had to leave after a while, and that was that. You see, I’m able to feel magic. Not physically, but mentally; it’s complicated. I felt the same magic emanating from you as I did Ink, so I assumed he sent you.”

     “Yes, he did,” I confirmed. “Those earthquakes you’ve been feeling are the result of a parasite chewing its way through the AUs. I teamed up with him to try and stop it.”

     “Oh dear,” she exclaimed, “I hope you’re able to find it. How many have you been through so far?”

     “This is my third one,” I replied, “A week in each, then a few days back with Ink. It’s going well so far, but we haven’t seen a sign of the parasite. I’m just watchin’ for anything suspicious.”

     She hummed again. “Could you remind me to swap numbers with you later? I can call you if I see anything.”

     “Of course,” I said. After a moment’s pause, I said, “Tori? Did you used to have a tail?”

     “Why yes, I did,” she said cheerfully, “when I was younger. When I matured, it fell off. It’s a rite of passage, in a way. I see you found the slit at the back.”

     “Yeah, I did. Somehow I hope my tail never falls off; I’d have to teach myself how to walk all over again.”

     She laughed. “Yes, that’s the pain of losing a tail. So the dress fits well?”

     “Like a glove,” I confirmed.

    After a few more minutes, she tied off my braid and laid it over my shoulder. “Do you like it?”

     “It’s beautiful,” I said, “thank you.”

     “Well, it’ll keep it out of the way. Did Ink explain what this AU is about?”

     “A little,” I shrugged, getting up and sitting in the chair across from her.

     “Well, as I said before, I am the leader of a gang called the Caretakers, comprised of monsters who wish not to entangle themselves in the Mafia and other gangs. You’ll recognize the other members by the Delta Rune, the symbol on the door you entered to get here. There’s also the Mafia, and there are different gangs contained in it, though the biggest is the Dreemurr Family, headed by my ex-husband, Asgore. I used to be part of it but broke away to form the Caretakers. Sans and Papyrus are part of it, as well as Undyne. I’m supposing you’ll want to get to them, right?”

     “Yes,” I agreed.

     “Very well,” she nodded. “then I suggest you rest here for a day before leaving.”

     “I was planning on it,” I said, “’Sides, how could I resist a chance at having another slice of your pie?”

     She giggled.

     Just then the door opened, and Kid ran in, stopping dead in his tracks at the sight of me. ”Yooo,” he said, “Dude, what _happened_ while I was gone?”

     Toriel and I both looked at each other and started laughing.


	2. Skullduggery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I have been looking forward to this chapter, and AU for that matter, so much that it's ridiculous. I can't write a summary right now, maybe I'll write a better one later.

     The night flew by faster than I would’ve liked, but I woke up with pie on the table next to me, so I guess that made it okay. After eating, I heard Kid still snoring in the next room over. What time _was_ it, anyway? I glanced at the wall clock that had been driving me nuts during the night to see it was nearing 6:00 am. Village life starts early, I suppose.

     I dragged myself out of bed and put the dress back on, heading into the living room where Toriel sat by the fireplace, reading a book. She looked up when I stepped on a creaky floorboard. I waved awkwardly, mentally slapping myself for getting caught.

     “Good morning, child. Did you sleep well?” she chirped.

     “Yes, I did thank you. Watcha readin’?” I clasped my hands behind my back and wandered over.

     “It’s a book about snails,” she smiled, “did you know that snails that respire using a lung belong to the group Pulmonata?”

     _Of course it’s a book about snails._ “Uh…no. I didn’t know that. Thanks for the pie, by the way. It made a wonderful breakfast.”

     She nodded and glanced at the clock. “Oh dear, can you fetch Kid for me? He’s always sleeping in.”

     “Sure,” I turned on my heel to fulfill her request. I had to practically jump on Kid to get him up, but he finally dragged himself up and out of bed, his eyes still drooping. I helped him redress and go into the living room, though upon entering, he uttered another snore. Toriel held up a finger, telling me to wait as she held a piece of pie under his nose. He immediately perked up, plastering a humungous smile on his face.

     We both snickered as Toriel set the pie on the table, enticing him to sit down in front of it.

     While he was occupied with his pie (making me jealous, as well), Toriel turned to me. “You still plan on continuing your journey today, yes?”

     I didn’t have to prod to know what she was talking about. “I’d love to stay longer, but I’m afraid that’s not what I came to do.”

     She nodded. “I understand. Would you like a slice of pie to go?” she smirked – she knew my weakness.

     “Would I!” I nodded wildly, making my torn ear flop crazily.

     “You’re leaving?” Kid looked up at me, some crumbs clinging to his face for dear life.

     I smiled sadly and reached over to swipe some of them away. “’Fraid so, hun. I’ll see you in the town square, though, right?”

     He sat up straighter and puffed his little chest up proudly. “Sure will! And you’ll get the extras from me, too, right?”

     “When there’s somethin’ new goin’ on, you’ll be the first I’ll hear it from,” I grinned, making that smile appear once more. _What a lil’ dork._

     Toriel reentered the room, ending our discussion for the moment and handing me a little lunch box that I assumed held the sacred pie. “I know you’re not human, but monster food may be able to heal your injuries to some extent. I hope this helps; we’ll escort you back to the exit. Kid, why don’t you stay here for the day?”

     “Aww, yo!” he exclaimed sadly.

     “She’s right,” I agreed, “things might get a lil’ hairy when I get goin’.”

     He sighed loudly, but nodded.

     They both walked me to the exit, cheerful banter floating back and forth between us as we tried to keep the good-byes somewhat lighthearted. All three of us instinctively became somber when we approached the door. I placed a hand on it, feeling the smoothness under my palm. “Well,” I turned back to them, never taking my hand off of the surface. “I guess this is goodbye.”

     Kid, his eyes misty, ran up and smashed his face into me in what I assumed to be his equivalent of a hug. I smiled and returned it, looking up and Toriel, who came over and fixed the hat on my head. “Come back if you’re ever in need of care, or…if you need your hair redone,” we shared a giggle.

     “I will,” I promised as Kid pulled away, sniffing a little. “Hey, don’t you start cryin’ now,” I ruffled where his hair would be, “Save a paper for me, will ya?”

     He mustered a smile and nodded.

     I took that as my cue and opened the door to step into the cold. Before the door could swing shut behind me, I turned and said, “Thank you, for everything.”

     The last thing I saw before the door closed was their gentle smiles that let me know that everything was going to be okay.

<\-------≪≫------->

     Alright, now I _know_ someone's following me. I have taken all the random turns I could, yet I still feel the same presence. I’ve taken too wild a path for it to be a coincidence that someone would just so happen to be going the same way.

     I found a blue rabbit dude leaning against an ice cream stand, looking very sad and muttering something about no business. The sight of him so sad filled me with a sense of Kindness, and I went over and bought the icy treat. When I went to pay, he stopped me by saying, “Oh no no no, it’s on me! Consider making a lonely rabbit happy as your pay.”

     I smiled at him. “Thank you, Mr…”

     “Nice Cream Guy, at your service,” he bowed with a hand on his chest, the other neatly tucked into the small of his back.

     I giggled. “That’s quite the mouthful, how about I just call you ‘Guy’?”

     “Splendid! Well, I’ll see ya around, Miss!” he chirped.

     “It’s Minx, by the way, and yes, I’m sure I’ll come back and get more nice cream,” I smiled and went on my way, leaving him smiling. Though when I rounded a corner, he called something out to someone else that made me walk just a little bit faster.

     “Why hello there! Would you like some nice cream?”

     “you see a girl go by here?” a low voice asked.

     I pressed myself against a tree, swiveling my ears to try and funnel any bit of speech I could.

     Guy hesitated for a moment before saying, “Yes, she went that way. Go get her, tiger!”

     _Oh my god._ I heard the unknown person mutter his thanks, and to my relief, his footsteps faded into the distance.

     I kept wandering through Snowdin town, not really knowing where I was going yet at the same time knowing exactly what I needed to do. Or did I? I need to get my wits back about me.

     I ducked into an alley, sitting down in a corner to think this through. I had barely begun when a monster dude holding a briefcase of sorts came sprinting into my alley, looking around frantically. In his panic, he didn’t notice lil’ ol’ me, just sulking in the corner.

     Before he could hide or do anything, three guys came sauntering into the alley after him, all holding pistols. The poor guy’s breathing quickened, and I swore I could hear his heartbeat like a drum set at a concert.

     “Okay, old man,” one guy snickered, confidently tossing his pistol from hand to the other, “hand over the case, and nobody get hurt. Ya dig?”

     “Never!” the guy answered defiantly. I admired his courage, I really did, but there still persisted a looming feeling – something having to do with those guns they held.

     The one who had spoken before (he must’ve been the leader) responded with an irritated click of his tongue, and he tossed his head to his two companions. They both nodded and alighted on the poor brave soul with kicks and fists, eventually subduing him into surrendering the case.

     “Kill him,” the leader said, “Can’t have him singing like a kettle.”

     I sat there, frozen in horror as one aimed his pistol at the whimpering, battered form on the ground and pulled the trigger.

     I squeezed my eyes shut and screamed.

     “Well, what do we have here? A little snitch?” the murderer snickered, moving a little closer to me.

     “You just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, doll,” the leader sauntered toward me.

     I shakily stood, facing them with fear in my eyes. I don’t completely know how it happened, but I somehow jumped over one and slid between the legs of the other, sweeping the last off his feet with a roundhouse. I bolted out of the alley like a bat out of hell, ducking my head as more shots rang out.

     _“After her, you buffoons!”_ the leader screeched, motivating me to run faster.

     Finally I found a seemingly abandoned warehouse and ducked inside, quickly finding a hiding place behind some boxes by the wall. As soon as I had tucked my tail in so it wouldn’t be visible, the door to the warehouse slammed open, followed by heavy footsteps.

     “Scour it! Find her!”

     Fuck. There was no way out of this one; the only exit was being blocked by the leader, who just sat there like a fat frog. I mean, well, that’s exactly what he was. I had somehow managed to choose the only spot that didn’t lead into another; there was no pulling a mission impossible here. The only thing I could do was sit tight and pray they didn’t find me, and if they did, well…I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.

     One was getting closer and closer to my spot, and breathing became harder and harder to control. Just when he was about to find me, a loud shot rang out and busted a hole in the ceiling.

     “hello, boys,” a new voice said. Wait a minute; I _know_ that voice – that’s the guy that was following me earlier!

     My heart was calmed slightly by a familiar set of “NYEH HEH HEH!”’s, also alerting me that the skeleton brothers were in the building.

     “you gentlemen mind tellin’ us what exactly you’re doin’ in this warehouse?” my follower’s voice continued, which I assumed belonged to Sans.

     “Uh, n-nothing, sir Skullface, sir!” a gang member stuttered.

     “didn’t think so. now get outta here before i waste three more of my bullets on you.”

     Frantic footsteps let me know they ran out of there faster than lightning.

     “BROTHER, PERHAPS WE SHOULD SEARCH THE BUILDING, JUST TO BE SURE NO ONE ELSE IS HERE,” Papyrus shouted, his voice echoing in the empty building.

     “alright, then, knock yerself out,” I heard something metal scrape against the floor.

     Papyrus sighed and started looking. Though I vaguely trusted the skele-bros, I still held my breath as he got closer to me. I buried my face in my knees and waited for the inevitable. Sure enough…

     “BROTHER, I FOUND SOMEONE.” He grabbed me by the back of my dress and lifted me like a paperweight, holding me up for Sans to see.

     Now that I saw them, I could see what they were wearing. Papyrus wore a beige suit with black trousers and pale red bowtie; his dress shoes were dark brown.

     Sans…first, he had deep blue shoes and pinstripe pants. His dark blue jacket hid a white undershirt and ocean blue tie. To top it off, he wore a fedora that obscured one eye, leaving the other to glow a dangerous blue. Currently he stared at me with an unreadable expression. The way he was dressed, coupled with the mysterious aura he gave off screamed HOT!!! He smiled lazily. “i don’t think she’s with them. doesn’t look like the type to go runnin’ off with _that_ kinda folk.”

     “I AGREE! SHALL WE TAKE HER TO ASGORE AND DECIDE WHAT TO DO WITH HER?”

     “guess so,” Sans stood up, kicking the chair back to where he found it.

     I finally found my voice. “Oi! When did I agree to this?”

     Sans lifted a finger, and a blue aura surrounded me and pulled me roughly to his level. “just now, sweetheart,” he said, making a shiver run down my spine and my face heat up. He smirked at my flustered state and strolled out the door with me moving along with him whether I liked it or not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hmm.....
> 
> Hmm.......
> 
> HMMMMMMM!!!!!............


	3. The Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here it is, the next chapter. Yup, still suck at summaries...I won't give anything away. Just...just. Read.

     Despite floating along with a skeleton brother on each side of me, I was still able to move my limbs about, which I took full advantage of. I didn’t try to escape or anything, but I _did_ try and flip Sans’ fedora off of his head numerous times.

     “will ya quit it!?” he snapped after about the seventh time, fixing his hat.

     I flipped onto my back and smirked at him. “Aw c’mon, don’t be such a sourpuss!”

     He glared at me and took a drag on his cigar.

     I giggled and folded my hands under my head. “I’m Minx, by the way. Who are y’all?” I already knew who they were, but I didn’t want to freak them out by just randomly calling them by name.

     “MY, THAT WAS RUDE OF US! I AM THE GREAT SNIPER!” Papyrus – er, Sniper – announced.

     Sans glanced at me to tip his hat, seemingly over his **_skull_** _king_. “skullface at your service, milady.”

     “Nice names,” I said, trying to swallow the heat growing in my chest from his warm stare. “Where we headed, anyway?”

     “YOU’LL SEE,” Pap…Sniper said.

     “Aight,” I laid back and closed my eyes.

     Skullface snorted. “comfy?”

     I cracked an eye at him. “Why yes, thank you.”

     His perma-grin widened, and he took another puff of his cigar.

     “Smokin’s bad for ya, y’know,” I commented.

     He smirked. “not like i have lungs to worry about.”

     Sniper groaned, making me giggle.

     We walked for a while longer before coming to the town square. There was a cinema on one side, a market on another, and a mansion of sorts on the other – the last side was open, with monsters of all shapes and sizes coming and going. Damn, this Snowdin was drastically different from the one I knew.

     I only saw all this for a minute or so before I was led into the mansion. It was guarded diligently by what I knew as the royal guard. Yep, there’s Doggo, smoking a dog treat per usual. Both skeletons nodded to Greater Dog, and he panted and stepped aside to let them in, giving me a chaste sniff before wagging his tail. I tried to pet him, but I was already too far away. My ears went slightly back in disappointment, and I faced forward to see that we had entered a grand foyer with a staircase on either side of a majestic doorway that led into a hall.

     While I was busy marveling at the chandelier hanging above everything, the boys went up one of the staircases and went through a few rooms before coming to a closed double door being guarded by none other than Undyne herself. She was wearing a white pinstripe suit with the jacket open, revealing a black undershirt.

     “GREETINGS, UNDYNE. WE HAVE COME TO SEE ASGORE,” I was startled by Sniper’s loud voice from beside me.

     “Who’s your friend?” she inquired, gesturing to me.

     “a girl we found in the warehouse. we brought her here to see what the boss wanted to do with her,” Skullface answered just as I was about to introduce myself.

     Undyne looked at me suspiciously, and I couldn’t help but feel relief in seeing her safe and sound after what happened in Horrortale. “Very well,” she said after a pause, “but if you try anything goofy, this might accidentally end up in your face,” she held a bladed police baton dangerously close to my face, and there wasn’t much I could do to back away from it due to Skullface’s magic still holding me there.

     “i don’t think that’ll be necessary,” Skullface shifted the tommy gun on his back.

     I laughed nervously. “Point taken.”

     Undyne, still eyeing me, swung open the door and held it while we crossed the threshold into a grand room that contained a desk and swiveling chair in the middle. A familiar gold-bearded man sat in the chair, and he looked up with a gentle smile as we entered. Skullface removed his fedora out of respect, and I nodded politely, Sniper smiling a wider.

     “Greetings, boys,” his rich voice carried, “What brings you here? And who’s the little lady?”

     _Fuckin’ hell._

     “we found ‘er in the old hideout, bein’ stalked by a few members of a frog gang,” Skullface said.

     “Did you eliminate these frogs?” Asgore asked, folding his hands on the desk.

     “no sir,” he replied, “but we gave ‘em a good enough scare that they won’t come within a few clicks of the place for a while.”

     Asgore nodded.

     “SIR,” Sniper piped up, “WHAT ARE YOUR ORDERS CONCERNING THE GIRL?”

     He fell into silence for a moment. “Killing an innocent would be going against everything we’ve been trying to achieve…hmm,” he stroked his golden beard. “Give us some privacy; I’ll evaluate her SOUL.”

     What. I just…what.

     “boss?” Skullface glanced at me; he seemed to be thinking the same thing.

     “I can handle her if she tries something,” he assured, “trust me on this one.”

     He reluctantly dropped the magic surrounding me and exited the room with Sniper.

     “Come, have a seat,” he invited, smiling warmly.

     I stood and padded silently to the chair in front of his desk, sitting down and shifting awkwardly in the seat that could probably fit like, five of my butts.

     “What is your name?” he asked.

     “Minx,” I squeaked.

     “I am Asgore, godfather of the Dreemurr Family. Now as you may have guessed, we have no reason to kill you just for being caught in our previous hideout. Hmm…” he studied me for a moment, and I shifted again. “You have two choices: either you can join us as a member of the Dreemurr Family, or I can send you to the Ruins to live with Toriel, leader of the Caretakers. Which do you choose?” he folded his hands and leaned forward, ready to hear my decision.

     I sighed and looked at my hands in my lap, tracing random patterns in my palm. Going back to Toriel would just be putting my journey at a stand-still. It seemed the only chance at finding anything would be to stay here, whatever that meant for the next week. I looked back up at him, taking a deep breath. “I’d like to become part of the Family.”

<\-------≪≫------->

     The first thing Asgore did after having me repeat a complicated oath was to have Skullface give me a tour of the mansion while they set up a room for me to stay in. The skeleton didn’t take the news well, as he was busy cleaning and polishing his tommy gun that I noticed he treated like his own child. Finally, after groaning a million times, he set his ‘child’ aside and stood up to begin the tour.

     So here I am, following him through the many rooms of the mansion, learning what each is for and which ones are off-limits to me. After almost losing him again, I jogged up to him and grabbed his shoulder. He whirled to face me. “Can ya slow the hell down!?” I huffed, “That’s the fifth time I’ve almost lost ya!”

     “look, doll, i’m not all happy-go-lucky about this either, but the sooner we get this stupid tour over with, the sooner I can go back to cleaning my rifle, and the sooner you can be sittin’ all high and pretty in your room. so, this room here is-“

     “Aight, there are all _kinds_ of things wrong with what you just said,” I cut him off, “First, don’t call me ‘doll’. It’s _disturbing._ Second, I know ya ain’t happy about this arrangement, I saw proof of that numerous times. Third, I’m not gonna be sittin’ high and pretty in my damn room; I’ll be starting my _training,_ while you’re busy scrubbin’ away at your precious gun.”

     He had put his hands in his pockets some time during my speech, looking slightly impressed. “ya done?” he asked, momentarily taking the cigar out of his mouth.

     “No,” I informed him. “I wanna know what your damn _problem_ is. It seems like as soon as you set eye on me, your funny bone fell out, glarin’ at me like I’m the barmaid who skimped on the meat in your sandwich. I did _nothin’_ to you, not a fuckin’ thing. I never said I liked you either, by the way. Would you rather that you shot me back in the warehouse? Is that what you want?”

     He raised an eyebrow(?) “i never said i wanted ya dead, doll. i just don’t want ya followin’ me like a lost dog.”

     “Cool, cuz I don’t particularly wanna follow you around, either. And what did I say about callin’ me ‘doll’?” I rested my fists on my hips.

     By now we had attracted some attention from some of the monsters in the room. I turned to one and barked, “What!?” he dropped his gaze, and I turned back to Skullface with a huff. “Now what did you say this room was?”

     He shook his head with a grin. “you’re quite the character,” he commented.

     I stood up a little straighter. “Thank you.”

<\-------≪≫------->

     By the end of the tour, we still didn’t like each other, but at least we weren’t trying to chew off the other’s head anymore. He led me to the door of my new room and stood there until I had taken a brief look inside.

     “need anythin’ else?” he asked.

     “Just a new start,” I said, making him look at me inquisitively. I sighed and held out a hand to him. “Hi, I’m Minx, and I’ve been known to be quite the character.”

     He scoffed, but met my hand with his own. “Skullface, chief hitman of the Dreemurr Family.” He lifted my hand to plant a soft kiss on it.

     “Well met,” I said as he gave me my hand back.

     He gave a small smile and walked away.

     I was about to go back into my room, but on second thought, I turned and stopped him. “Skullface?” he turned to look at me. I smiled. “Thanks for the tour.”

     He tipped his hat and waved, and I closed my door behind me.

     I looked around approvingly at my room. It was more like a college dorm room than anything, complete with an attached bathroom. I noticed there was no door at the other end; at least I wouldn’t have to fight over it with any neighbors. I pulled out my phone and punched in Ink’s number, lifting the phone to my ear and listening to the dial tone. For some reason I hoped it would go to voicemail; I’m fucking awkward over the phone. No such luck, though – it did _not_ go to voicemail, and Ink’s voice came in over the intercom. _“Hello?”_

     “Dammit,” I said under my breath.

     _“What?”_

     “Nothin’. This is Minx.”

     _“Oh hai! How’s Mafiatale so far?”_

     I sighed. “Interesting. In the span of the last two days, I’ve managed to have a few slices of pie, witness a murder, get chased because of it, and become part of the mafia. How have _your_ last few days gone?”

     He laughed. _“Well, I don’t think I can top that, but I think you’re gonna have to teach me how to make pancakes when you get back; I’m starting to get tired of Dream’s stew.”_

     It was my turn to laugh. “Aight. Oh, by the way, do you visit AUs, too?”

     _“Occasionally. Though I can’t go through them as intimately as you can; I just drop in to make sure everything’s on the up-and-up. Why you ask?”_

     “Oh, Toriel said that she met you when you checked up here.”

     _“Ah, yes. I remember that. Usually if I meet anyone in an AU, it’s the Sans of that dimension. That’s how Sans Classic knew about me.”_

     “Ohhhh, that makes more sense,” I nodded though he couldn’t see me. Then I thought of something else. “Do you have any spare notebooks lyin’ around? I’ve been thinkin’ of keepin’ a journal.”

     _“Probably a good idea. Sorry, I don’t. Maybe there’s one in a store somewhere?”_

     “I could check. Anyway, I’ll let ya go before somethin’ happens.” I cringed inwardly at how stupid that sounded.

     He snorted. _“Okey-dokie. Good luck on finding a journal.”_

     “Thanks. Talk to ya later.”

     _“Bye.”_

     “Bye,” I hung up before taking another look around my room.

     The bed looked comfy, and I had to suppress the childish urge to go jump on it. The floorboards looked like they had quite a few squeaky ones in there, but I’d find a way to cross the room without making a sound, one way or another. I frowned at the rug by the bed. It was pink. I’ll have to take care of that. Now that I looked closer at it, there was some red poking out from underneath. I crossed over to it, cringing at every squeak the floor made in protest at being walked on. I flipped the rug over, and the reverse side was like the other, but in red. Cool.

     The bathroom looked nice; a decent sized tub and shower. I’ll have to test that out later. The granite sink sat below a mirror, and I took the time to wipe some smudges off of my face and smooth my hair to make myself look at least half-presentable. I took one last glance around before stepping out the door to head to the shooting lane San…Skullface had showed me to begin my training.

     It took me some wandering to find it, earning some odd glances from the guards who kept seeing me go one way, then the other. Finally I savored my personal victory at finding it.

     It was a normal shooting range; booths leading into a big area with targets in it. By the doors that led into the area itself, I guessed that it acted as a dojo of sorts, too. After taking a glance around, I noticed Skullface leaning against a separator between two booths. “Hi,” I greeted him, earning a hat tip and a smile, “Whatcha doin’ here?”

     “waitin’ for you,” he said, taking a drag on his cigar. I swear I’m about ready to grab that damn thing out of his mouth and stomp it into the fucking ground.

     “Oh?” I said innocently, shouldering up to him. “Waitin’ for me to what?”

     He grinned. He _knew_ I wasn’t going to like what he was going to say next. “i’ve been instructed to teach you the trade of the mafia.”

     My eyes widened in disbelief. Oh god. _He_ was going to be my _what!?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Something I've always done when I write is listen to music fitting the setting of that particular story, and lately I've become obsessed with electro swing. I'm like, "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE!?" XD
> 
> I think I already said this before, but I've been looking forward to this AU way too much. And now that I'm writing it, I'm like a giggly Japanese schoolgirl.
> 
> Well, I went to my local junkyard with my dad today for some spare parts for his truck. (It was my idea, just to let you know.) Like the smart girl I am, I wandered off among the broken-down cars, looking for anything I could bring home as a souvenir (Holy shit I spelled that right on the first try). Now, this is a recipe for disaster. A pretty young girl, lurking through an almost empty lot with plenty of places for creeps to hide...Needless to say, I got attacked. Luckily, my self-defense training came in handy, and that motherfucker is now missing some teeth. And I wouldn't be surprised if he won't be able to see tomorrow morning due to his eyes being too swollen. Just a normal day in the life of me. So that was my day, how was yours?
> 
>  
> 
> (Why am I such a goon magnet?)


	4. Training...Start!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fuck Jerry. That's all I can say. Just. Fuck Jerry.

     “you’re gettin’ pretty good with a gun, there, doll,” Skullface commented.

   “Yeah, and you’ll feel just how good I’ve gotten if ya don’t quit callin’ me ‘doll’,” I threatened light-heartedly.

     He held up his hands in mock defense.

     I nodded and went back to shooting. There was something about a pistol I liked; something satisfying about hitting the target that I didn’t get with Fire Conjuring. After a few more rounds, I was disappointed by Skullface’s words.

     “i think that’s enough shootin’ for now. let’s see how good ya are at hand-to-hand,” he said in his familiar-yet-indistinguishable accent. How it slipped right fucking past me before that he had an accent, I don’t know. Maybe my mind is just clear enough now to pay attention to his voice.

     He led me down a little walkway that led to the target room; there was no one else in the range, so it was safe for us to go in there. He started pushing the targets to the back of the room. “mind givin’ me a hand?”

     “Sure,” I helped push the remaining targets back to make room for two people to move about.

     He removed his jacket and hat and carefully placed them on the floor in the corner, shoving his hands in his pockets and standing a little ways from me. I never noticed this before, but he had a cute little gap in the front of his teeth. He rolled up his sleeves as I shook myself out. I felt my face heat up. _Goddamn he’s hot._

     “i’ll go easy on ya at first, but it won’t stay that way,” Skullface warned as he stretched his neck and rolled his shoulders.

     “Fine with me,” I smirked, throwing my own hat aside and doing my best to focus on my task and not how fucking hot he was.

     “and no magic,” he said.

     “Wha-how did you know I had-“ I was interrupted by him lunging toward me at an alarming rate.

     “stay focused,” he said calmly, cracking his knuckles and lunging again.

     This time I took him head on, grabbing his sides and suplexing him, and I heard him grunt as he got the wind knocked out of him. “Jesus Christ,” I exclaimed, scurrying over and leaning over him, “Holy fuck, dude are you okay!?”

     He suddenly smirked slyly and brought his hand up, hitting my chin with his open palm and knocking my head back. While I was stunned, he kicked me in the chest and sent me stumbling back a few feet. He flipped himself up and got in a stance. “not much of a fighter, are ya?”

     His words struck a chord deep in me, and I scowled and lunged. _“I’ll show you a fighter!”_ I ducked under his hook punch and round-housed him in the shins, knocking him on his back. Before I could pummel-drive him, he rolled out of the way and flipped back up, hitting a pressure point on my back that sent me to the ground again.

     I rolled over and launched myself back at him, planting a hand on his chest and slamming him against the wall. Unfortunately, I hadn’t taken his hands into account, and he brought them to my face to press the pressure points under my eyes; he didn’t get to, because I flinched from the touch and released him.

     He tried to round-house me, but I jumped over his feet and hook punched him in the gut. He grunted, and I pushed his chin up, hitting him repeatedly on the chest until he was on the ground again.

     We were so engrossed in our battle that we didn’t notice the two pairs of eyes watching from the booths.

<\-------≪≫------->

     Skullface planted his foot on my chest, preventing me from doing anything to get up. Both of our chests heaving, sweat pouring in bullets down his forehead (I never sweat, I don’t know why), he said breathlessly, “yield!”

     I glared up at him, hesitating. Finally I said, “I yield.”

     He nodded and helped me up. “good fight,” he said, shaking my hand to show there were no hard feelings.

     As he went to grab his discarded articles of clothing, I couldn’t help but feel irked to know it had been the fucking dress I was wearing that cost me my victory; I had stupidly tripped over the damn thing and fallen to the ground, allowing him to plant his foot on me.

     He slipped his hat back on his head, and I put my own back on. We both went back to the booth room (that’s what I decided to call it), and a familiar voice called to us.

     “WOWIE! I NEVER WOULD’VE GUESSED YOU WERE THAT GOOD, MINX!” Sniper complimented.

     I smiled, still trying to catch my breath.

     “You didn’t do half-bad,” Undyne agreed.

     “hey, what about me? i was the one gettin’ whomped on by ‘er,” Skullface teased.

     “YOU DID GOOD AS WELL, BROTHER,” Sniper patted him on the back.

     “How is she with a gun?” Undyne asked.

     “aight, for a beginner,” Skullface winked at me.

     I stood up straighter. “Oh yeah, were you any better when _you_ first started?”

     He smirked. “a bit.”

     “Alright, we’d better get ready for dinner,” Undyne stated.

     “NYEH! LET’S GO!” Sniper triumphantly led the way out of the shooting range.

     “Dinner?” I turned to Skullface.

     “yeah, dinner. supper, the evenin’ meal, whatevah ya wanna call it,” he teased. “it’ll be in the banquet hall in about an hour.”

     “So it’s a group meal?” I clarified.

     “Oh it’s better than a group meal, punk! You’ll see! And because you joined us today, Asgore’s gonna introduce ya!”

     “Son of a bitch,” I muttered.

     Skullface elbowed me in the ribs, making me jump. “ease up on the swearin’ around sniper, will ya?”

     “Hurensohn,” I said the same thing in German.

     “or…that works, too,” he shrugged and went back to walking.

     I laughed evilly in my head. I have finally found a solution to my not-being-able-to-swear dilemma.

<\-------≪≫------->

     After Skullface had escorted me to my room, despite my protests of “Fuck you I can drag my own ass there”, I was able to test out that tub, and I was impressed with myself that I was actually able to remember a mental note of mine. I can’t tell you how many important things had been put in the form of a mental note, only to be completely forgotten not even five fucking minutes later.

     I sighed in frustration after trying to braid my own hair for the last time. _Looks like I’ll have to pay Toriel a visit,_ I smiled. Finally I just settled for a pony tail, smiling at the hair tie Undyne gave me. She must’ve had to stock up on those heavy-duty ones; I’ve been giving it hell, and the elastic in it wasn’t even starting to stretch.

     I fixed the neckline of my dress and winked at my reflection. _God I’m such a nerd._

     I exited the bathroom and glanced at my hat on the bed. “Meh, fuck the hat for now,” I said, smoothing my hands over my ears proudly. Deciding I was ready, I opened the door to find my way through the maze to the dining hall.

     There stood Skullface, all decked out in a dark gray trench coat over a blue shirt and black slacks. He had one hand in his pocket, the other raised as if he was about to knock. Upon seeing me, his cigar fell out of his mouth. He coughed, shoving his other hand in his pocket. “heya. just came to get ya.”

     I gave a crooked grin. “Lil’ ol’ me? How sweet.”

     He cleared his throat and extended his arm. “yeah, well. shall we?”

     “We shall,” I replied and hooked my arm in his, allowing him to lead me down the hall toward what I assumed to be the banquet hall. It was in such an obvious place that I doubted I would’ve been able to miss it, so why the fuck did Skullface feel the need to escort me there?

     _Ohhhh…_

     I looked up at him. _Would he…?_ I looked away when he glanced questioningly at me. _Nah, he wouldn’t…would he?_

     I didn’t have any more time to dwell on the matter, because we had now entered the dining hall. It consisted of a ridiculously long table, with some sort of open area at the opposite end. In addition to the nice wall lamps, there were two elegant chandeliers near the ceiling to provide light. Damn, how much fucking light did one dinner need!?

     Undyne and Sniper both waved jovially to me, and I shyly waved back, feeling my face brighten from the unwanted attention their hoots and hollers drew from the other monsters already in the room. I must’ve been sticking out like a snowball in summer – I wished I could melt like one, too.

     Skullface led me to a seat near the front and didn’t let go of my hand until he was satisfied I was settled. He bowed with a hand on his chest and turned to go to his own seat, after which I took the time to look around at the other occupants of the dining hall.

     There weren’t really all that many, considering how many monsters there really were in the Underground. Most of them I recognized; Undyne and Sniper, of course, most of the guards; I assumed the rest were busily guarding the mansion. Aww there’s Shyren! I met her back in Undertale. What’s she doing caught up in the mafia? And HOLY SHIT THERE’S ALPHYS! I haven’t seen her in so fucking _long!_ And…oh no. My heart sunk. There’s Jerry. Fuck Jerry.

     After a little while, the guards stood and served us our food before serving themselves and sitting down to eat. We had cold sliced beef, French potatoes, baked apples, cake, and tea. And can I just say it was _heaven_ to eat meat again after going full fucking vegetarian in Horrortale!?

     “Members of the Dreemurr Family, may I have your attention please?” a rich voice that I recognized as Asgore’s boomed toward the end of the meal.

     The chatter in the room died down, and I caught sight of Skullface snapping to attention after almost banging his head in his food from falling asleep. I snickered and turned to the open space, where Asgore himself was standing there in front of a microphone.

     He waited until the room was quiet, then continued. “Friends, I am happy to announce we have a new member of the Family.” He looked straight at me and gestured for me to come up there.

     _Hoo shit…okay, Minx…if you could go through Mettaton’s show in front of the whole Underground, then you sure as hell can do this. C’mon, girl, get your ass up there._ During my little pep-talk, I had somehow gotten myself nearer to Asgore, accompanied by the applause of the Family. My legs were still shaking, though.

     He seemed to pick up on my nervousness and rested an arm on my shoulder, though to comfort me or keep me from running away, I don’t know.

     “May I introduce Minx, our newest member. Be sure to make her feel at home during the next few days, as she will be continuing her training,” he said as some hoots and hollers arose from the table.

     I turned my head and hid my pure red face in my hand, smiling and giggling bashfully like an idiot.

     The godfather chuckled and released me, allowing me to go back to my seat. Before I buried my face in my arms, I caught a glimpse of Jerry winking at me. _Oh my fucking god._

     For the rest of dinner, I felt multiple curious pairs of eyes on me; finally I just gave up on trying to eat and started conversing with Doggo and Greater Dog, who were on either side of me. Doggo was the only one I was able to have an intelligent talk with; Greater Dog would just stare at me and cock his head, his eyes pleading for a pet. I gave in and patted him on the head.

     He got so fucking excited that he went where no other dog has gone before; and by that I mean his neck stretched to astronomical proportions, and it curled up by the ceiling only to have his head shoot back down to me.

     “What…was that?” I asked no one in particular.

     “Haha! That happens when he gets excited,” Doggo explained, taking out a bone-shaped lighter and holding it to the dog treat in his mouth.

     “’Ey, Doggo!” another guard yelled, “no smoking at the table, now!”

     He grumbled but put his lighter away and just gnawed on the treat, his eyes shifting side to side.

     I suddenly sensed an unfamiliar aura approaching and looked around, only to catch a glimpse of Jerry waddling his way toward me. In the split second I looked in his direction, I could see a few monsters make a noticeable effort to scoot their chairs away as he passed.

     I snapped my head back to Doggo, and he glanced over my shoulder and gave a low growl. Oh. No.

     “Hey,” he said, shouldering up to me and laying an arm over the opposite side of my chair, “the Wi-Fi sucks here, but I think I found another kind of entertainment…”

     I already hadn’t liked this motherfucker, but coupled with his whiny, mosquito-like voice, and the fact that the little shit was _trying to hit on me,_ “Sorry, not interested,” it made me hate his guts even more.

   “I don’t think you understood me, _girl,”_ he growled, putting a hand on my shoulder.

     I kicked my chair back with a heel and stood up to face him, roughly shrugging his hand off me. “And I don’t think you understood _me,_ dipshit,” I hissed, barely noticing most of the chatter in the room had stopped cold.

     “You heard the lady,” Doggo stepped in.

     Jerry ignored him and grabbed my arm with a greasy hand.

     I recoiled in disgust.

     “hey. **buddy.** ” Someone calmly said, making him whirl to face the speaker. It was Skullface; he had his eyes closed and his hands in his pockets. “i believe the lil’ lady said **no.** ” he opened his eyes and flung out his arm, making Jerry fly across the room and break one of the many wall lamps.

     I watched his line of movement for a second before turning back to Skullface. “Thank you,” I said.

     He grinned. “no thanks necessary, ma’am.”

     “Oh, but it _is,”_ I insisted.

     He smirked and took a blue handkerchief out of his front pocket, proceeding to clean the grease off my arm that Jerry’s hand had left there. “if you insist,” he paused. “you can do one thing to make this button man happy.”

     I raised an eyebrow. “Which is…?”

     He placed the now-dirty napkin on the table and bowed, holding out a hand. “perhaps you could join me for the first dance?”

     I still didn’t know how to dance very well, but maybe if I’m lucky he’ll want to tango. Besides, he _did_ just save me the trouble of throwing Jerry across the room myself. I smiled and took his hand.

     “I’d be delighted.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See summary.


	5. More Training

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally, another chapter.

     Skullface didn’t want to tango. He wanted to waltz. After I had ashamedly confided that I didn’t know how, he just smiled and held my hand above our heads, proceeding to step in a square, counting along with the music.

     I tried my best to step along with him, and I was starting to get the rhythm after a few passes. Once he felt I was getting it, he extended my arm to the side with his, slipping his other arm around my waist. Feeling a jolt going down my spine and trying to keep it away from my face, I awkwardly placed a hand on his shoulder.

     “loosen up a lil’,” he said, “you’re coiled up like a rattler.”

     “S-sorry,” I said and tried my best to relax. I suddenly realized I hadn’t been this physically close to anyone since… _Kristin_ …my mind momentarily shut itself down.

     “ya okay? you’re spacin’ out on me,” Skullface said, snapping me back to the present.

     “Yeah, I’m fine; just part star,” I said, faking a laugh.

     It didn’t look like he bought it, but he smiled. “you’re as beautiful as one, too.”

     A genuine smile crossed my face, and I looked down to try and hide it. He removed his hand from my waist and used it to tip my chin back up. A blush spread across my face as his eye flickered from mine, to my lips, and back again.

     “Watch it, lovebirds!” Undyne hollered as she and Papyrus did some sort of complicated swing dance past us, disappearing in the crowd once more.

     Wait, when had the crowd formed? Why was there a crowd? Oh…they’re all dancing. I guess this open area thing is actually a dancefloor. Neat.

     Skullface had instinctively pulled me closer to him as they danced past us; he loosened his grip a little.

     I glanced up at him to see him gazing down at me. As if on cue, a slow song started playing over the speakers, and I tittered.

     He chuckled. “free for one more song?”

     I smiled. “Always.”

_Okay…how do I do this? It’s not like I’ve ever done this before. Alright…I’ve seen my fair share of movies where this kind of shit happens._

     I awkwardly laid my head on his chest with my arms around him. I could hear a faint beating sound…did he somehow have a heart of sorts? Or was that his SOUL?

     He rested his chin on the top of my head right between my ears and wrapped his arms protectively around me, swaying gently with the music.

     We stayed like that for a while until we were some of the only ones on the floor.

     He sighed deeply before saying, “it’s gettin’ late. want me to walk ya back to your room?”

     “No, that’s aight,” I declined, reluctantly pulling away from him. “Thanks.”

     He smiled and nodded, keeping an arm around me and glaring at Jerry as we exited the dining hall. Why the fucker was still there, I don’t know.

     The mansion looked different at night; almost deserted, like a ghost town.

     “my room’s across the hall, if ya need me for anything,” he said.

     I nodded. “Okay, well…good-night.” We stood a few feet from each other.

     “g’night,” he bowed and headed to his room.

     I did the same, turning to watch him slip through his door before going half-way through my own. I’m pretty sure I saw Jerry in the corner, on his phone. Except he wasn’t looking at his phone. Once I saw what kind of expression he had on his face, I all but slammed my door behind me.

     He had the fading look of a predator.

<\-------≪≫------->

     I woke up the next morning being stared in the face by a certain hitman. “Skullface,” I whined, glancing at the clock, “it’s only 5:30…”

     He grinned. “yep. and the stores don’t open ‘til 7:00.”

     “Stores?” I repeated.

    “stores. i’m sending you to one with undyne and sniper today. but before you go, i thought you’d benefit from some training with guns,” he explained.

     I yawned. “Okay, but could you go in the bathroom for a sec? I gotta get dressed,” I nodded at the dress hanging in the corner.

     He closed his eyes and grinned, though it looked like he was winking due to his other eye being obscured by his signature fedora. “sure thing, doll.”

     I groaned at the nickname and waited until he was gone to get out from under the covers and trudge over to the dress, slipping it on. “Okay, you can come out now,” I called, deciding to leave out the leather band.

     He came back into the room, and I went past him into the bathroom to tame my mane. “So what are we working on today?”

     “we’ll see how ya are with a shotgun today,” he replied, leaning against the door frame and watching me. “and after ya get back from the store, we’ll work on hand-to-hand. my last win was less than fair.”

     I raised my eyebrows, as if asking my reflection if it heard the same thing I did. So he _did_ know he won because I tripped over my dress. “Nah, it was fair,” I said, “It was my own fault for trippin’.”

     “it was _my_ fault for takin’ advantage of your… ** _slip-up._** _”_ he winked.

     I laughed, finishing up my pony tail. “Can you get my boots? They’re next to the bed.”

     He did, bringing them back and watching as I sat down and pulled them on. “by the way,” he said as I was putting the second one on, “where did your scar come from?”

     I sat up and sighed reflectively. “That’s a long and personal story,” I finally said.

     He seemed satisfied with my answer and nodded. “i understand. ya ready?”

     “Sure,” I stood up and cracked my knuckles.

<\-------≪≫------->

    Well, I’ve discovered one thing in the past hour; shotguns are most definitely _not_ my thing. The kick on the one I tried was so powerful I had fallen flat on my back, and it was all I could do to keep my dress from flipping up over my face.

     Skullface had helped me up and cleared his throat to disguise a laugh. “on second thought, why don’t we just go back to pistols?”

     Anyway, during the course of me shooting and learning how to reload, I’ve realized something; it’s about Jerry.

     In his bullshit pickup line, he mentioned Wi-Fi. And he was on a mobile phone last night when he was staring at me like a fucking stalker. In this AU, the mafia seems to be in full swing, which means it’s around the 1930’s. If my suspicion is correct, neither of those things should exist yet. I’ll have to tell Ink I found something suspicious.

     “aight,” Skullface said, wrenching me out of my thoughts, “ya won’t hafta leave for another half hour yet, so howzabout i teach ya how to defend yourself against a guy with a gun?”

     “That’d be great,” I replied as he led me into the dojo once more. Yes, that’s what I’m calling it.

     “now don’t panic,” he said, bending down to grab something, “this is just a prop.” He turned to face me, holding an alarmingly realistic pistol.

     “Um…okay,” I said, eyeing it warily. It looked almost exactly like the one that killed Kristin.

     “aight, now. how high can you kick?” he asked.

     I swept my leg up and over his head, making him lean back a little.

     “good. now if i go like this,” he took out the fake pistol and aimed it at me, “what you wanna do is hit my wrist with the side of your foot to make me drop the gun. try it out once.”

     I started to sweep my left leg like I did before, but he stopped me.

     “other leg. swing it counter-clockwise.”

     I started over again, this time taking his instruction and sweeping my left leg counter-clockwise to hit his wrist. It made him lose his grip on the gun, and it skittered across the floor.

     “Okay, now what?” I asked.

     He spread out his arms. “come at me.”

     I hesitated. “I don’t wanna hurt you.”

     He relaxed his arms and put them behind his back. “doll, you won’t be able to hurt me if ya tried. now come at me.”

     I cracked my neck. “Sorry in advance, then.” I barreled full-speed into him, knocking the wind out of him and slamming him on the ground. I savored a personal victory as his fedora flew off his head and across the room. I kept a hand on his chest with a leg over his and the other arm keeping his wrists locked above his head.

     “impressive,” he muttered between heaving for breath.

     “Sorry,” I said, helping him up.

     “don’t be sorry for defending yourself,” he said, patting my shoulder. “how about this; ya ain’t allowed to say sorry anymore.”

     “What!?” I exclaimed. He tried to explain a little more, but I kept cutting him off with my protests. Finally he grabbed both of my shoulders, forcing me to look at him.

     “listen to me. ya got too much kindness in that SOUL of yours. ya can’t feel bad for keepin’ yourself from gettin’ hurt. or worse,” he stressed the last few words.

     I sighed and nodded reluctantly.

     He nodded back and glanced at the clock. “now where’d my hat go?”

     I giggled and helped him look for it. We both found and grabbed it at the same time, under one of the targets. We each stood up, and I awkwardly gave it to him.

     He put it on and smoothed the rim. “you okay? your face is gettin’ red,” he felt my forehead with the back of his hand.

     I swatted his hand away as I noticed the smirk on his face.

     “Thought we’d find you two here,” we heard Undyne say from the booths.

     “ARE YOU PREPARED FOR OUR TRIP OF SHOPPING?” Sniper joined in.

     “Sure,” I said.

     “i’ll be in the foyer when ya get back,” Skullface informed me.

     “Okay,” I replied, “see ya then.” I couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched.

     He waved as Sniper and Undyne led me out of the room. They took me to the shopping center I had seen before, when the skele-bros were first taking me into the mansion.

     Inside was more of a modern-day mall than anything. Clothes stores, bookstores, and…more clothes stores. Monsters of all shapes and sizes were milling about, coming and going, and just…living.

     Undyne and Sniper led me to one of the many clothes stores, but I stopped; something had caught my attention.

     A young monster child was just standing in the middle of the crowd, sobbing its poor little eyes out. He was holding a well-loved rabbit plushy by the ear, and his other hand was rubbing his teary eyes. He was looking around franticly, like he was looking for someone.

     I stooped to his level, and he stepped backward with caution. “It’s okay, bud; I’m not gonna hurt you,” I spoke like I would to a scared animal.

     “I’m not s’pose to talk to strangers,” he whimpered.

     “Well _that’s_ a problem; I guess I qualify as a stranger, don’t I?” I smiled, “My name’s Minx. What’s yours?”

     He sniffed a few times and stepped a little closer. “I’m Collin.”

     “Well, I guess we ain’t strangers no more,” I said. “Now I couldn’t help but notice you looked right upset a second ago. What’s wrong?”

     That seemed to bring it back, and he let out a choked sob. “I l-lost my m-mommy…”

     That pulled my heartstrings. I held out a hand to him. “C’mon, Collin. I’ll help ya find her.”

     He cracked a smile and took my hand. “Okay.”

     I stood up and looked around. Collin was a little gator, so all I had to do was find a gator lady. Shouldn’t be too hard. Either that or wait until he spotted her. We walked a few steps until I heard Undyne’s loud voice calling to me.

     “Minx, what are you doing? We have to get going!”

     I gave her a sharp look as Collin let out another sob and cowered behind my leg. “It can wait; I’m helpin’ a friend,” I smiled at him.

     Sniper put a hand on Undyne’s shoulder and said something, but he was using his quiet voice; I couldn’t hear him.

     Collin and I walked around aimlessly for a few minutes until finally he saw her and let out the most joyful sound I’ve ever heard.

     I stood back and watched as the two gators embraced. “I can’t thank you enough,” the mother said to me.

     “It was nothin’,” I insisted, waving it off.

     She stood up with her son’s hand in hers, and he gave me a toothy grin, waving.

     I waved back as they walked away. Once I was satisfied, I headed back to the store Undyne and Sniper had been in front of.

     “Here, try these on, punk!” she thrust some clothes at me.

     “Undyne…” I said, “They’re pink…”

     “So?” she asked.

     “So…do they come in black?” I asked hopefully.

     She and Sniper looked at each other, and he shrugged. She rolled her eye and led the both of us to another part of the store. Sniper fell back to talk to me as we both tried to keep up with her fast pace.

     “DON’T TAKE IT PERSONALLY; SHE’S ALWAYS LIKE THAT,” he assured me.

     I nodded. “I know.”

     She eventually stopped, making me almost bump into her. “Knock yourself out, punk,” she waved at the section she had stopped at.

     I shouldered past her and gaped at the clothes like a fish. Before me stood all the black clothes I could ever dream of. I squealed and dove right in.

<\-------≪≫------->

     They had convinced me to get clothes other than all blacks. I _had_ managed to score a few black collared shirts, and a couple pairs of black slacks to go with them; I guess jeans were out of the question.

     Sniper had picked out a cream-colored suit jacket, but we had a hard time finding it in my size. While we were looking, I found a pale red scarf that reminded me of the other versions of Papyrus. I had showed it to him, and he wrapped it around his neck and struck a pose that even Undyne had to snort at.

     Finally we checked out, and I got my darks, a pale green collar shirt, and the cream jacket we had finally found in my size. Sniper got the scarf, of course. Even Undyne got a few things. I noted that she put a necklace inlaid with semiprecious stones, and I could only speculate who it was for; I doubted she was getting it for herself.

     “Undyne,” I said, “are you _sure_ you wanna buy all this?”

     “Course,” she scoffed, “’S not like you’re getting paid yet.”

     _Yet?_ I thought.

     We left the store with bags in hand, and I waved at Collin, who was sitting at a table eating nice cream with his mother.

     When we got back to the mansion, I headed straight to my room. I changed into a black collar shirt and slacks, topping off the look with my dog tags that I now took great pride in. After I was satisfied I was presentable, I went back to the foyer to wait for Skullface.

     “Hey,” I heard a painfully familiar voice say from the table I had made the mistake of sitting at.

     How the fuck I didn’t notice Jerry sitting there, I’ll never know. I pursed my lips and closed my eyes with raised eyebrows, slowly opening them. I inhaled deeply, standing up and flipping him off. “Yeeaaahhh, fuck you.”

     “Where’re you going? You just got here~” he said, “Why don’t you stick around for a while?”

     I turned around to walk backwards. “No,” I gave him the double flip-off, “fuck you.”

     I proceeded to go to the other table – on the other side of the foyer. I sat there for a bit, watching the comings and goings of the other members of the Family. Every so often I would glance over just to see if Jerry had fucked off yet, only to have him wink at me over his phone. What the fuck was he even _doing,_ anyway? Playing Pokémon Go!?

     After what seemed like an eternity, Skullface showed up and sat at my table, popping a cigar in his mouth. He didn’t seem to notice me and patted all over him, groaning.

     “Need a light?” I asked cheekily.

     He jumped and looked at me, shrugging after a second. “sure.”

     I snapped my fingers, making a miniscule flame appear on my fingertip. After I had lit his cigar, he took a drag on it and took his sweet time on expelling the smoke. “Skullface?” I asked.

     “hm?”

     “How did you know about my Fire Conjuring?”

     He glanced at me. “i just knew.”

     I rolled my eyes and changed the subject. “What’s the next part of my training?”

     He took another drag before answering. “why don’t i just show ya?”

     I nodded. “That’ll work too.”

     He tossed his head. “follow me.”

     I stood up and walked alongside him as we headed toward the back entrance to the mansion that I somehow never knew about.

     He eyed me. “ya look nice, doll.”

     What he did next surprised even me; he put an arm around me. I glanced shyly up at him as he glanced over his shoulder and smirked at something. I turned to see what he was looking at, only to see Jerry still sitting at the table, now silently snarling in our general direction.

     I have _definitely_ found something suspicious.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the radio silence, guys; I hope this longer-than-usual chapter makes up for my absence.
> 
> I've been busy with more exams in my classes, except this one didn't come as such a shock. I got a C on the last one, by the way. *sweat drops*
> 
> My depression has flared up again; my therapist has ordered my mom to take all of the knives out of my room and to keep close tabs on me for a while, just until my mind decides it's okay again. I don't even know what made it bite me the ass this time; usually it's linked to some kind of something going on, but this time...I'm drawing a blank. It might have something to do with an age-old sibling spat between me and my twin sister raging up again.
> 
> Honestly, I don't know what to do with myself right now.


	6. A/N Just a warning, it will be offensive

      So tomorrow's voting day...*barfs*

      I'm not of legal age to vote yet, but believe me when I say that I've gotten my fair share of politics these past months. And quite frankly, I am sick and fucking tired of it. It seems like I haven't gone a full 24 hours without hearing the names 'Donald Trump' and 'Hillary Clinton'. And to be fair, I understand that this is a historical election; history books will probably talk about it in like, 100 years. But if I have to hear those two names one more time, I'm gonna heave.

      I won't say who I'm rooting for, but let's just say that my life will probably be turned upside down if the other gets elected. See, I'm homeschooled. And apparently the practice of homeschooling is considered as a danger in the candidate's eyes; something about 'protecting the children'. Oh puhleeze. Gimme a break.

      I shouldn't be unloading all this on y'all, but I need some kind of outlet without watching people's faces contort into one of offense and disgust. Usually I wouldn't say all of what's going to follow, but I. Don't. Give. A shit.

      Have you guys ever considered how many innocent infants' lives have been snuffed out without said infant even getting a chance to live it yet? And why? Oh _right,_ because someone had the kind of heart to say that the baby didn't deserve to live because it wasn't convenient. And I understand that some of those instances have been because of rape, incest, and the life and health of the mother, but don't you dare tell me that all those women are making the right choice. If you don't want a baby, why go through the motions to have one, if you know what I mean. And don't tell me that 'protection' exists, because what exactly does it protect from? Inconvenience?

      I am also what you may call a 'homophobe'. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against gay people themselves; in fact, all of the gay people I've met are more human than those who are straight. I just believe that marriage should only be between a man and a woman.

      .................I shouldn't be unloading all this on y'all, but I need some way to rant without having to watch people's faces contort into expressions of offense, disgust, and sometimes rage. I don't really give a fuck about offending people anymore, I just...I'm tired. I'm tired of having to watch what I say because of "intolerance", but when people call me out on it, isn't that intolerance in itself? Think about it.

 

      *sigh* I'm sorry. I really shouldn't be bringing you guys down with all my shit, but I mean really. I could've just slept the anger off and shoved into the already overflowing bottle of rage, but that wouldn't be doing anybody any favors. I just needed to get my thoughts out and into a physical form. These aren't the things we like to talk about, but they need to be at least thought of.

 

      I'm not sorry for speaking my mind. It's who I am.


	7. Lunch and Arachnephobia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not really feeling up to it right now, sorry...

     “How long has Jerry been in the Family?” I asked, dodging another sweepkick from Skullface.

     He exhaled sharply as I kicked him in the stomach.

     “Sorry!” I exclaimed.

     “what was that?” he eyed me sharply.

     “Nothin’!” I corrected, pursing my lips.

     He chuckled, swinging a leg over my head as I ducked. As I came back up, I knocked his head back with an uppercut, jabbing him in the chest to knock him down and planting a foot on his chest. “Yield!” I commanded.

     He got a mischievous glint in his eye. He flicked a finger, and I went flying backward. As I sat back up, he flipped to his feet and got in a stance. “nice try, doll.”

     “Oh _now_ we can use magic,” I rolled my eyes, getting up and lighting up my hands.

     We both charged each other, clashing in the middle with our hands together, each trying to get the better of the fight. I grinned and focused on my hands, making him recoil from the sudden intense heat. I roundhoused him off his feet, but he threw a bunch of bones at me before he hit the ground.

     I leapt backward a bit and destroyed them with a ball of fire and waited for him to recover. He didn’t need much time, though; he threw more bones at me and watched as I weaved between them, getting hit by a few, but not many. I was so busy dodging the bones that I didn’t notice him inching closer until he was right in front of me.

     In one swift motion, he pulled my SOUL out and watched my reaction carefully.

     I froze, breathing heavily and looking up at him. “Now what?”

     He shrugged, staring at the little multicolored heart for a second before snapping his eyes back to me. “dunno. what _are_ ya gonna do now?”

     I thought for a moment. “This!” I summoned a wave of fire from my SOUL, making him recoil. Pulling it back to me, I crossed my arms and smirked at him confidently.

     He nodded. “not bad. i think that’s all for trainin’ today.”

     “You’re just afraid you’re gonna get your ass handed to you, ain’t ya?” I wiggled my shoulders.

     “not by a long shot. ‘sides, it’s lunchtime. would ya rather go hungry?”

     “No, but I call a rematch,” I earned a chuckle. We both walked side by side toward the mansion, and I took the time to admire the courtyard. There was a fountain surrounded by a maze of hedges made to look like a circle from above. Surrounding all this was a massive field, with woods surrounding that. I tucked the scenery away in a pocket of my mind, planning to see what exactly it looked like at night.

     “so, ya wanna eat out, or raid the fridges here?” Skullface asked me.

     “Let’s be a couple of kitchen thieves,” I replied, “I don’t want you to spend any more money on me.”

     “not one to be pampered, eh?” he raised a skele-brow at me.

     “Hell no,” I said. We entered the kitchen and made a bee-line for the fridges lined up at the back. Sharing a look, we split up and opened the fridges one by one, looking for anything that didn’t look either rotten or too important to eat.

     I looked over when Skullface sputtered. “this ketchup is terrible,” he said, passing the bottle to me. “try it.”

     I took a small sip and recoiled. “Ugh,” I made a screwed-up face and looked at the label. I glanced up at him and handed the bottle back. “That’s because it’s tomato paste, ya bonehead.”

     “that’d explain it,” he shrugged, putting the tomato paste back where he found it.

     I rolled my eyes playfully and went back to inspecting the cheesecake I had found. There was already a piece missing, and I was just about to call Skullface over when someone roughly grabbed my arm and yanked me backward, covering my mouth. I squeaked in surprise and twisted around to get a look at my attacker.

     Jerry smirked back at me, shoving the missing piece of cheesecake in his mouth with his free hand. “So~” he cooed, “is this considered a date?”

     I growled and bit his hand, wriggling free enough to get a good grip on his arm. I yanked him off his feet and slammed him into one of the fridges, leaving a satisfying dent in the metal.

    He got back up and lunged toward me, but his SOUL suddenly turned blue, and he fell back to the ground, unable to get up again.

     I looked over at Skullface, who was strolling toward me, one hand in his pocket, the other stretched toward Jerry, his eye glowing blue. “whadd’ya say we go out instead?”

     I nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”

     He threw the dipshit across the room, and we both left. “That reminds me,” I remarked, “ya never answered my question.”

     “which one was that?” he asked. We both ignored the loud crash that was made by Jerry slamming into something, followed by a colorful string of curses.

     “How long has Jerry been in the Family?”

     At the mention of Jerry’s name, he groaned and ran a hand over his face. “’bout…three months, i’d say. why?”

     “Oh, I dunno,” I slipped my hands into my pockets, “Somethin’ just seems off about him.”

     “you’ve noticed too, then?”

     “Kinda hard to miss. Where are we goin’, anyway?” I asked.

     “an old haunt of mine. ever heard of grillby’s?” he said as we approached the tavern that had the fire elemental’s name on the front.

     “I saw it on the way to the mansion for the first time,” I said. It wasn’t _exactly_ a lie, but it wasn’t the whole truth, either.

     “i think you’ll like it,” he held the door open for me.

     I stepped inside the door and took in this AU’s version of Grillby’s. It was like the one I was familiar with, only a little more old-schooled.

     I waved at Doggo, who was smoking a dog treat at a table with Dogamy and Dogaressa. It didn’t look like those two minded; they were too busy admiring each other that they didn’t even seem to notice. They were the only three Canine Guards in there, it looked like.

     Skullface led me to the bar, pulling out a seat for me and sitting down in the chair next to it. I sat down and leaned against the counter.

     “I see you finally got a date, Mr. Lone Bone,” Grillby teased, rubbing a cup with a cloth. The cup looked clean already, but he didn’t seem to care.

     Skullface’s cheekbones turned a light shade of blue, and I giggled. “we’re not on a date, grillbz,” he muttered.

     I smiled evilly and put my arm around him. “Don’t be ridiculous,” I said cheekily, “You know I’ve found your **_skeleton key._** _”_

     He rolled his eyes, trying to play off the growing blue tint on his face. _What a tsundere._

     Grillby chuckled warmly and set his cup on a shelf. “Would you two like burgers or fries?”

     “I’ll have a burger,” I said.

     “make that two,” Skullface said, holding up two fingers.

     Grillby nodded and went to the back to make our orders.

     I turned to Skullface when I heard him gulping something down, only to see him going bottoms-up with a bottle of ketchup. “Easy with the drink!” I said.

     He glanced at me and shrugged, putting the bottle down and sighing contentedly. “what was that for?” he muttered.

     “What?” I asked.

     He grumbled as his face turned darker blue.

     “Ohhhh, _that!”_ I giggled, “I was just teasing,” I playfully hit his shoulder.

     “oh,” he sounded mildly disappointed.

     Just then Grillby came back with our food and set it in front of us. I noticed a small Delta Rune badge thing on the front of his vest.

     “ya want some ketchup?” Skullface asked me, holding up the bottle.

     “Sure,” I said and took it. Though when I tried to tip it, the entire cap came off and drenched my burger in ketchup.

     Skullface snorted when I gave him a death glare. “here,” he laughed, pushing his own food toward me, “you can have mine.”

     “What about you?” I asked.

     He grabbed the ketchup-drowned burger and took a huge bite as an answer.

     “Oh,” I said, shrugging and taking a bite of my own burger.

     We had almost finished our meal when suddenly the door slammed open. Skullface and I both turned to look out of reflex. There stood a spider lady, holding a shotgun with two arms and burlap sacks with the other four. She briefly glanced at us, then smiled. “Storm it!” she said. Suddenly a swarm of spiders scuttled into the tavern and scattered every which way.

     They crawled over everything, covering every surface with a wriggling blanket of limbs. Even Skullface seemed disturbed as they started crawling up his legs. Now, spiders don’t really bother me, but I don’t like it when a crowd of them is _on me._ I was able to keep relatively still so they wouldn’t get startled and bite me, though.

     Nobody knew what was happening until the spiders had spun web cocoons around everybody, pinning them to one spot. Even Skullface and I got trapped.

     Grillby was the only one not getting swarmed by the endless horde of arachnids, and the spider lady strutted forward and slammed the sacks onto the counter. “Fill ‘em.” She ordered.

     “I think not, Muffet,” Grillby said calmly, cleaning a spoon that looked clean anyway.

     “Ahuhuhu,” she giggled, covering her mouth with one of her six hands. “A tough guy, huh? Swarm ‘em!”

     A bunch of spiders advanced toward him, but he stood his ground, calmly setting the spoon down somewhere and adjusting his glasses.

     I had had enough. I burned my way through the cocoon of spider silk and freed Skullface, too. He reached behind his back and equipped his tommy gun, adjusting his fedora and giving a dangerous smirk. Before the first spider could lay foot on Grillby, I pounded my own foot on the wooden floor so hard that I think the walls rattled. _“Enough!”_ I screeched.

     Muffet turned with an intrigued look on her spidery face. She snapped all three of her right fingers, and all of the spiders froze in place. She stalked toward me and leaned down so her face was at my level. “And who might you be, deary?”

     I narrowed my eyes slightly. “Just a wolf you may not wanna mess with.”

     “Ahuhuhu,” she giggled again, standing to her full height and moving over to Skullface. She walked in a circle around him before going to stand by the counter, leaning against it and smirking. “Sansy~” she teased, “I didn’t know you were into furries~”

     My ear twitched in irritation. “Ooh, this bitch is gonna get it!” I lit up one of my hands and took a step forward.

     Skullface stretched an arm out and held me back, making me look at him with an expression that said “Dude what the fuck?”

     “wait,” he said. “what exactly are you doin’ here, muffet?”

     “Ahuhuhu,” she covered her mouth. I was _really_ getting sick of that fucking giggle. “I don’t need to tell you. Besides, you’re smart enough; you can figure it out for yourself.”

     “whatevah the reason, i don’t appreciate ya struttin’ in here like you own the place,” he spat.

     “Here, here,” Grillby said from behind the counter. He discreetly slipped Muffet’s shotgun under the counter where she wouldn’t be able to reach it.

     “Oh, but I practically do~” she crossed her legs.

     “Bitch, what language you speakin’?” I said, “Cuz it sounds like bullshit.”

     Her face contorted into one of malice, and she lunged toward me, her teeth morphing into fangs.

     Skullface knocked me out of the way, and Muffet barreled into him, both of them rolling across the room in a ball of hissing rage.

     Before I could get up, the spiders of hers crawled all over me, beginning to spin another cocoon around me. I was having none of it. I slammed my palm onto the floor, and a wave of fire pulsed from it to burn most of them alive. “Grillbz, can you take care of the other bugs?” I asked.

     He adjusted his glasses and rolled up his sleeves, nodding.

     I nodded back and got to my feet, stomping my foot and punching the air in front of me. A ball of fire slammed into Muffet, knocking her off of Skullface. He pulled himself up and grinned at me.

     Muffet hissed and lunged back toward us.

     Skullface pulled out his tommy gun and aimed it at her, but a few rogue spiders that escaped Grillby shot silvery strands of silk at the gun and wrenched it out of his grasp. Before Muffet could reach me, he turned her SOUL blue and pulled her to his face. She snarled, and he used his free arm to wipe the spittle off his face. He suddenly smiled menacingly and threw his arm to the side, her SOUL and body mimicking the motion.

     I ran over to him, and he wrapped his arm protectively around me, using his other arm to toss Muffet around like a ragdoll. Finally he dropped her unceremoniously to the ground, both of us leering down at her as she struggled to her feet. Once she had, a fire ball that hadn’t come from me slammed into her back and knocked her out of the tavern. We both turned around to see Grillby with his arm still outstretched.

     The fire elemental adjusted his glasses and cleared his throat, grabbing a cup to clean and humming a cheery tune.

     “c’mon doll,” Skullface said, “we’d better head back.”

     I looked up at him. His eye was still glowing blue, but his smile was gentle. I smiled. “Lead the way.”

   He nodded and took a step. Suddenly he stumbled a few steps and almost fell.

     I caught him. “Skullface!” I lifted his face. He was holding his chest, and I looked down to see blood soaking through his suit. My eyes widened. “He’s wounded!” I yelled to no one in particular. I turned to Grillby, who was now freeing the three Canine Guards.

     “Can you handle the rest?” he asked Doggo, who nodded.

     As he called someone on the phone, I turned back to Skullface, laying him down and taking his fedora off. “Hang in there,” I said, “We’ll get you some help.”

     He nodded through his labored breathing. With the hand that wasn’t keeping pressure on his wound, he reached up and cupped my face, rubbing my scar with his thumb. I momentarily flinched away, but then leaned into his touch once I remembered who he was. He smiled and slowly closed his eyes, and his hand slipped from my face.

     “No,” I said, “No! No, no, _no!_ C’mon, now is not the time for sleeping! Open your eyes!” I was yelling desperately at him now, “Please don’t die! _Kristin!”_ the name had hardly escaped my mouth before I realized what I had said. I stood up and backed away, covering my mouth and paying no heed to the tears that fell down my cheeks.

     “Little missy?” Doggo supported me with an arm.

     I didn’t notice him. All I saw was my dead sister. Everything went black, and I went limp. I didn’t care. All I cared about was that one name running through my mind.

     Kristin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nuuuuu Skullface! Don't worry guys, he's not dead.


	8. Doctors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *busts out of a cage full of monsters labeled 'school'* *gasps* IT'S BEEN SO LONG!!! Alright, so! Sorry for leaving all of you on that cliffhanger for so long, but I had to focus on my college work for the final exams. Annnd it paid off, since I got straight A's! YAY!
> 
> So now that I'm on Christmas break, I'll be able to actually sit my ass down and WRITE! WRITE TO MY HEART'S CONTENT! Sorry. So, without further adu.....
> 
> BEGIN!

     I didn’t know where I was when I awoke. My vision blurry, I looked past the bright light shining in my face to see someone in white clothes leaning over me. I started to panic, my eyes blazing, my breath beginning to shorten. The next thing I knew was someone lifting me into a sitting position and hugging me. I tried to claw my way out of their grasp before I heard a familiar, unnaturally quiet voice and froze.

     “Shh, it’s okay, we won’t hurt you.”

     “P-Papyrus?” I whimpered before wrapping my arms desperately around his suited frame. I pulled away after a few seconds and looked up at the other, white-clad figure with him.

     It was Undyne; she had her arms crossed, but she mustered a small smile and nodded at me.

     “How is he? Is he alive?” I asked them.

     “He’s alive, but he’s fighting,” Undyne answered, “Alphys is with him now; she’s kind of the doctor around here.”

     “Minx, if it’s not too soon, what happened?” Sniper asked, placing a comforting hand on my back.

     I looked up at him and blinked owlishly. I put a hand up to my head. “We went out to lunch at Grillby’s, and this spider lady…what was her name…”

     “Muffet?” Undyne offered.

     “Yeah,” I snapped my fingers weakly. “She stormed the place with an army of spiders, demanding money from the counter. We got in a fight, and Skullface got hurt in the chaos.”

     “Great, just great,” Undyne threw her hands up, “she’s expanding her territory.”

     While she was pacing on the other side of the room, I looked at Sniper for an explanation.

     “The Dreemurr Family is one of many gangs in the Underground; Muffet is the leader of one that’s right below us in the ranks. She’s always demanding protection money from different businesses, but she’s never dared to come this close to the manor before now,” he said. His voice was still quiet, and his brow was creased with worry.

     I placed a hand on his shoulder, though I had to reach up quite a bit to do so. He looked at me. “He’ll be fine, don’t worry.”

     He mustered a small smile and nodded.

     The door opened, and Alphys padded in, wringing her hands and looking around nervously. Her eyes landed on me. “Y-you’re awake! That’s good! M-my name’s Alphys, I-I’m the doctor around here…and s-scientist, um…” she said in that sweet meek voice of hers and held out a clawed hand to me. I couldn’t help but notice she was wearing the necklace Undyne had bought at the store. _Called it._

     I met her hand with my own. “Minx,” I said quietly. “How is he?”

     “His condition is stable, and we’re trying to keep it that way. Dr. Gaster is with him now.” her stutter melted away.

     I started at the all-too-familiar name. “Gaster?” I repeated.

     “Oh, th-that’s right! Y-you haven’t met him yet…um…” she trailed off. “How do I put this? Uh…he’s a-another doctor along with me, a-and a good one at that. He’s so d-devoted to his work that he always h-has his food delivered to him in th-the lab; that’s why you didn’t see him at the dinner…”

     My face paled sometime during her speech. Skullface was _alone_ with _him!?_ “I wanna see ‘em.”

     “It’s still a gruesome sight; I’ll escort you to your room and come get you when he’s stable enough to see,” Undyne put a hand on my shoulder.

     That statement didn’t help me feel any better, but I blankly followed her back to my room. The grand splendor of the foyer somehow didn’t seem so bright today. We both stopped at my door, and Undyne stopped me with a hand on my shoulder before I could disappear into my room.

     “He’ll be fine, I promise. He may not look the part, but he’s a pretty tough guy; it’ll take a lot more than a slice across his chest to kill him.”

     I smiled sadly and nodded.

     Suddenly Asgore’s voice came on over the old-school speakers. “Undyne, please report to my quarters at once.”

     “You heard the man, you’d better get going,” I said.

     She nodded. “Don’t worry ‘bout ‘em, okay?”

     I just smiled sadly, not making any promises. After she left, I slipped into my room and sat down on my bed to ponder things. After a few minutes, I grabbed my phone from under my pillow and pulled up Ink’s number. Not trusting my voice, I sent a text instead of calling him.

     _Me – I’ll need more time. Skullface is hurt pretty bad, something’s not right with Jerry, and Gaster is here._

     He responded almost immediately, and I chuckled at the thought of him waiting and staring holes into his phone.

     _Ink – okay. I’ll give you another week. Fill me in, what’s going on?_

     _Me – mafiatale’s set in the 1930’s right?_

_Ink – Yeah?_

_Me – so then why does Jerry have a phone?_

_Ink – hm…that is strange. Find out what you can and tell me everything when you get back._

_Me – roger that._

     I set my phone down and sighed. I wanted to investigate right away, but Undyne said she would come back for me when Skullface was well enough to sustain a visit. Where would I even begin? If Gaster’s still here, then it means he hasn’t fallen into the CORE yet. Maybe checking it out would provide something useful. But where was the CORE? There was no way for me to ask without drawing attention to myself. I need to find a way to get to Toriel; she can help me.

     I grabbed a pen and piece of paper. _Undyne; went to get some fresh air. Have an update ready for me when I get back, will ya?_ Yeah, that looked good. I changed into another set of clothes; my pale green shirt and cream jacket along with a crisp set of dress pants. I topped – er, bottomed – it all off with a pair of sneakers I had found in the store, as well.

     Doing a quick check-over of the room, I opened my door and left the note on the floor outside where Undyne was sure to see it. Can’t have them tearing up the place looking for me, now can I?

     On my way out, I mistakenly made eye contact with the dipshit himself. He narrowed his already-beady eyes, and I flipped him off before striding out the door, never giving him a second glance.

<\-------≪≫------->

     I had met up with Kid at the city square and listened as he prattled on about something that I wasn’t actually listening to; it was just nice to hear his voice again. He led me back to the entrance to the Ruins, which was good because I didn’t have the first clue as to where the fuck it was.

     Toriel, when she first saw me, stopped what she was doing and rushed over to check me over for injuries.

     “Tori,” I whined, “I’m fine; I just came here to ask you for some help.”

     Her head snapped up from checking me over. “With what, my child?”

     I took a deep breath. “I need to get to the CORE.”

     Kid nearly choked on the pie he was eating, and they both looked at me with shocked expressions on their faces.

     “Child,” Toriel’s voice was stern, “I cannot allow you to go to the CORE.”

     “Yeah, dude,” Kid piped up, “the CORE is like, bad news!”

     “I have to; otherwise there’s virtually no chance of moving forward. I can’t afford to leave any stones unturned,” I argued.

     “This is one stone that may get you killed,” Toriel countered.

     “…I’m gonna…go for a walk,” Kid stated, getting up and darting out the door to the Ruins.

     “I will not allow you.” The leader of the Caretakers stated firmly, ignoring Kid’s announcement.

     “Goat mom. I just need to know where it is. I promise to be careful,” she seemed just as surprised at the new nickname as I was. Where did _that_ come from?

     Her snout wrinkled in a humored snort. “Goat mom?” she giggled.

     I laughed breathlessly. “Goat mom,” I repeated. We both fell into a fit of giggles for a few moments.

     “I still cannot allow you to go,” she said, wiping a tear from her eye.

     “Why not?” I tilted my head in a friendly way, waiting for a response.

     “The CORE is…unstable. As you probably know, it provides power to the entire Underground; as a result it latches onto anything with magic for the power it’s so hungry for. The monsters that work there are able to withstand it because they do not possess magical abilities. You on the other hand, well…I’m afraid you are simply too powerful to avoid being pulled,” she explained, casting a melancholy stare at the floor.

     “Latches onto?” I parroted, “Pulled? What do you mean?”

     “When Dr. Gaster created it, he meant it only to be a machine. However, the longer he let it run, the more…animalistic it became.”

     “Animalistic? You mean it’s almost like a living entity?” I thought aloud.

     “Precisely. A power-hungry entity. That’s why I can’t let you get anywhere near it,” something I couldn’t identify flashed behind her eyes.

     I sighed in defeat; there was no way she was going to let me anywhere near that machine. “Okay, then I guess I’ll have to go after Gaster himself.”

     “Gaster? As in _the_ Dr. W.D. Gaster?” Toriel confirmed.

     I nodded. “He’s not supposed to be here at all; in all of the other AUs he fell into the CORE and got scattered across the timelines. The original one is a very sick and twisted scientist. I’ve had the _pleasure_ of meeting him,” I soaked the word ‘pleasure’ in sarcasm, “and I don’t trust him in the least. Which is why I can’t leave an injured Skullface alone with him any longer than I have to.”

     She nodded in understanding. “Of course, child. But, before you go, could I…braid your hair again?”

     I stopped in my tracks and looked back at her hopeful face. Her expression was one that I could not say no to. “Alright,” I sighed and sat down in front of the couch.

     Toriel squee’d and plopped down behind me to get to work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hm...Gaster's in Mafiatale, huh? This is very interesting.....very interesting indeed.......
> 
> Also, I'm sorry if the explanation of the CORE isn't very accurate...but it'll serve a purpose later. I think.


	9. "I CAN'T LOSE ANOTHER ONE!"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was one I enjoyed writing. I can't say it was fun, because there are some feels, but I enjoyed it all the same.
> 
> Also....
> 
> FUCK JERRY!!

     By the time I got back to the mansion, it was dark. I still have yet to figure out how the night and day cycle even works when you’re in a fucking mountain.

     The note hadn’t been disturbed, and many of the monsters I’d usually see were absent from the halls. _Strange._ I picked up the note and went into my room to sit on my bed. After a few minutes, I studied the note a little closer for entertainment, turning it over. There was a reply message from Undyne.

     _Minx-_

_Meet up in room 87 of infirmary. There’s something you should know._

_-Undyne_

     Oh. OH! OHHHHHHH! How did I miss _that!?_ My mind caught up with my eyes as I read the words a second time. Was Skullface awake? Alive? _Safe?_ Only one way to find out. I grabbed the piece of pie Toriel had given me and rushed out the door, headed to the infirmary with the idea to give the sweet treat to a certain skeleton to help him heal faster. I’d heard that monster food does that.

     When I got to the hallway that led to the sick bay, I halted when I rounded a corner at the sight of a certain potato-looking dipshit on his phone, milling around outside room 87 – my destination. He took notice of me, as well and winked. He seemed to know I had to get past him.

     I rolled my eyes and steeled myself, uncomfortably inching closer to the door he was lurking in front of. I tried to push open the door, but it was locked. I made a scrunched-up face and tried again. Yup. Still locked.

     “Hey,” Jerry said.

     I shot him a glare, standing on tip-toes to look through the window. Skullface was lying on a hospital bed inside, surrounded by Undyne, Alphys, and…Gaster. I bored holes into the back of the twisted scientist’s head before turning to put my back to the wall, on the opposite side of the door than Jerry.

     “You gonna keep ignoring me?” Jerry asked, and I saw him tilt his head – er, body – out of the corner of my eye.

     I turned my head to look at him exhaustedly. “Do us both a favor and don’t fucking talk to me,” I spat.

     “Uh-huh,” he said with a finger in his nose. “So, like, why are you here?”

     “I should be asking _you_ the same thing, dipshit,” I said, recoiling in disgust when he took his finger out of his nose and popped it in his mouth.

     He scoffed. “I’m here because this is like, the only place that has good Wi-Fi. The Wi-Fi sucks around here. Kinda like you.”

     I felt my expression darken. “And you spit.”

     He smirked. “And you swallow.”

     My ribcage rattled in a deep growl, but just then the lock on the door clicked, and it swung open. I looked up to see Gaster looking at me. It was startling how similar he looked to the original; if I didn’t know any better, I’d say they were one and the same. He had the same cracks on his face, same holes in his hands, the only thing different was that he didn’t have a face-splitting smile. I guess you have to go insane in order to do that.

     “You must be Minx, yes?” he inquired, adjusting his glasses.

     “Ah, yeah,” I straightened, coming back to my senses from gawking at him. “How is he? Can I see him?”

     “Of course,” he answered, his expression never changing. “He’s in a coma, but his condition is stable.”

     My ears flattened against my head, and I pushed past him to enter the room. I thought of something and turned back to Jerry. “And you choke,” I said venomously, leaving him scowling.

<\-------≪≫------->

     “So he’s not gonna wake up for who knows how long?” I asked, staring intently at Skullface’s features.

     “Right,” Undyne sighed, crossing her arms and leaning back in her chair, her muscles rippling in the light. She had taken off her suit jacket, and I couldn’t help but notice the special attention Alphys was giving her arms through discreet glances. “It might be a month before he wakes up, maybe more, maybe less. I’m sorry,” her voice softened, and she uncrossed her arms to lay a hand on my slumped shoulder.

     I merely nodded, not taking my eyes off of the injured skeleton in front of me. I couldn’t stop thinking about his waking moments; the way he fought, the way he moved, his eyes, hell, even that damn cigar he insisted on smoking. His chest rose and fell steadily with each breath, his mouth slightly open but his usual laid-back smile gone, replaced with a grimace. _He’s even feeling pain in his sleep._

     Alphys tapped Undyne’s shoulder and tossed her head in a silent gesture to leave. Undyne nodded and stood, leading the way out of the room and down the hall.

     _Where’s Sniper?_ I thought blankly.

     My thoughts were interrupted by a sudden screech down the hall, getting louder with each passing second.

     The door suddenly burst open, revealing a disheveled Sniper, breathing heavily like he had run here.

     “Papyrus, wait!” Gaster protested from behind him, holding out an arm.

     The tall skeleton paid him no mind as he rushed over to grab his brother’s hand. “Sans, Sans! Can you hear me!?” his voice was quiet, but frantic. “Come on now, brother! No sleeping on the job! Wake up!”

     I watched sadly as Papyrus tried in vain to wake his brother up, not really understanding that he was in a coma. “Stop it,” I said quietly, but he didn’t hear me and continued his efforts. I stood up. _“Stop it!”_ I yelled, making him look up at me. “Just! Stop it! Don’t you get it!? He’s in _a coma!_ That means he won’t wake up for god knows how long! So just…STOP! HE IS NOT GOING TO WAKE UP!” by now there were tears streaming down my face, but I paid them no mind as my breaths became more shallow and ragged.

     He stayed silent, studying my distressed stance with tears of his own brimming in his eyes.

     I walked around the bed and ran out of the room, pushing past Gaster and going straight for the back exit Skullface had led me to. Across the field and toward the woods I ran, the rhythmic crunching of my feet in the snow my only company. I got to the edge and stopped myself by wrapping my arms around one of the pine trees, my shoulders shaking in quarantined sobs. After a few seconds, I pushed myself off and ran deeper into the woods until I couldn’t see the mansion anymore, collapsing by a boulder once I had.

     My chest heaved with heavy breaths, tears spilling onto my cheeks and making rivers down my face. I looked up at the sky, only to see dark rock instead of the stars and moon I loved and missed so much.

     “I can’t,” I choked out, “I can’t!” I stood up and clenched my fists. “I CAN’T LOSE ANOTHER ONE!” I turned toward a tree to my left and punched it with all of my might, hearing the crunch of the bark splintering under the sudden stress – kind of like me. I swung my other fist at it in a powerful hook punch, and kept going until I couldn’t swing anymore. Panting, I collapsed backward against the boulder and looked at my hands. They were coated in blood coming from my split knuckles, and the snow around the tree was speckled in red.

     My ribcage rattled again, this time with the primal urge to howl. I gave in to it, and my howl echoed around the forest and back to me, even after I stopped. It sounded mournful and almost angry, which was exactly how I felt.

     “This is all my fault,” I told the blood-spattered tree in front of me. I looked up at the ceiling of the Underground. “WHY CAN’T I FUCKING PROTECT ANYBODY!?” I screamed at it, though it didn’t provide any answers.

     My mind went back to what I did right before I ran out. “Dammit,” I muttered, putting a bloodied hand to my forehead. If there were someone that deserved getting screamed at, it sure as hell wasn’t Papyrus. I’ve got to fix this.

     I shoved my unwilling body into a standing position and began to walk back toward the mansion to make amends for at least one thing I fucked up.

 

         ~3rd person P.O.V.~

 

     Sniper gripped Skullface’s hand a little tighter in his own, focusing all of his energy on trying to heal him. He was still alive – the sharpshooter could tell from the rising and falling of the hitman’s chest, but he was just barely clinging onto life despite Dr. Gaster’s best efforts. However badass Skullface was, he still only had one HP, and most monsters knew this. He just never thought that Muffet would stoop so low as to take advantage of it.

     With his free hand, he peeled back the infirmary sheets back enough to see his brother’s bandaged torso, which blood was now seeping through. Alphys would probably be coming in to change them any minute now.

     Right on cue, the smol yellow drake padded in with her arms full of medical supplies and conducted a silent conversation with her eyes. Without a word, she set to work re-bandaging Skullface’s wounds.

     “Wh-where’s Minx?” she asked, never taking her eyes off her work.

     “She needed some fresh air,” he answered simply, making her nod. Minx had left over an hour ago, and Sniper was starting to get worried. He understood why she had gone off on him and hadn’t taken any personal offense by it; he saw something in her eyes that said that this was the result of other, long-festering wounds that nobody else could see. So when she bolted out of the room, he decided against going after her and let her go. Now he was starting to wonder if that was the right choice; not all monsters were pacifists around here and wouldn’t hesitate to kill her, even in her weakened state.

     He sighed. Judging by the way she trained with Skullface, he knew he shouldn’t be worried. His brother seemed to have a lot of faith in the girl, so he should too.

     He suddenly heard dragging footsteps coming down the hall and turned to look. The door opened to reveal an exhausted-looking Minx, her knuckles dripping blood onto the floor.

     “I’m so sorry,” she said, her sapphire eyes boring into his with such intensity that he knew she meant it with all her heart.

     He smiled and nodded, waving her over.

     Alphys, having finished her business, gathered up her supplies and left, but only after pulling up a chair next to Sniper’s.

     Minx nodded gratefully and sank into the chair, putting her hands on her knees and taking a few deep breaths.

     Sniper laid a hand on her back, rubbing it in soothing circles.

     She laid her arms on the hospital bed, and her head on her arms, her ribcage vibrating with a purr/hum. Sniper thought it strange, but shrugged it off. Plenty of the other monsters made strange sounds, too. After a little while, her breaths evened out, and he looked down to see her fast asleep.

     He smiled and let out a small ‘nyeh’ before picking her up and settling her in the other hospital bed in the room, taking the time to observe her features. Two vertical scars ran down her right eye, which probably rendered her half blind. His own eyes ran up and down her form; not in a creepy way, just…studying. She was small, very small, but he’d seen her fight and knew she wasn’t one to be undermined. Her hands were rough and calloused, and he again took notice of the now drying blood on them. He sighed and went to get a pail of warm water to wash them; can’t have her getting infected now.

     Just before he left the room, he turned to look at the two. One thought crossed his mind as he exited the room.

     _No wonder Sans likes her._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "No wonder Sans likes her"?
> 
> Hmm...


	10. CORE Beliefs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> SHIT GOES DOWN!!! It's goin' down for real!

     I woke up to light streaming through the infirmary window, and I reached up to stretch my arms and yawn. I went to crack my knuckles, but they were wrapped up in something – bandages? Who put those there?

     I sat up and surveyed the room, twisting my neck to crack it. Skullface was still out cold, his bandaged chest rising and falling with each breath. Sniper was in a sleeping in a chair next to his brother’s bed, his chin resting on his chest, though half of his face was hidden in his scarf. _Adorable._ I smiled and went over to wake him up.

     “Nyeh?” he said it like a question.

     “C’mon, big guy; let’s get you some breakfast. He’ll be fine on his own,” I nodded to the hitman on the bed.

     Sniper reluctantly nodded and stood up, stretching his legs and following me out of the room. As we were leaving the hall, I saw movement out of the corner of my eye and halted at what I realized it was and where it was going. “Uh, on second thought,” Sniper turned to look at me, “You go ahead without me; I think I’ll watch him.” I tossed my head back to the room.

     He nodded and continued toward the dining hall, slinging his suit jacket over his shoulder.

     Once he was out of sight, I hurried back into room 87 only to find the door shut and locked. I growled and stood on tiptoe to look through the window. My heart leaped into my throat as Jerry smirked back at me, raising his arm to show what he held.

     A syringe full of deep red liquid.

     The rattle in my ribcage roared to life, and I stepped back to use my Fire Conjuring to bust the door off its hinges. Once the infernal piece of metal was out of the way, I rushed in and clamped my hand on Jerry’s wrist just as the tip of the needle was about to go through Skullface’s ribcage and to his SOUL. Yanking his arm back, I twisted his wrist sharply and made him let go of the syringe. It clattered across the floor, and Jerry was somehow able to break free and make a dash for it.

     I pounded my foot on the ground, sending a flash of fire that hit him square on the back. I kicked him across the room and picked up the syringe, ready to break it and render whatever was inside useless. Just as I was about to shatter the glass of the thing, there was a voice in the doorway.

     “What’s going on in here?” Gaster demanded.

     Jerry sprang up from his position on the floor, waddling over to Gaster and pointing at me. “She like, tried to kill Skullface, I was able to stop her, though,” he said.

     _“What!?”_ I yelled, my ribcage vibrating slightly.

     Gaster raised his eyes to me with an accusing glare.

     My eyes widened in realization. “Wait, no! That’s not what-“

     “Guards!” he cut me off, turning his head down the hall and never taking his eyes off of me.

     Not even twenty seconds later, the sound of heavy footfalls reached my ears. I turned to Jerry with fury in my eyes, smashing the syringe against the wall and breaking it. I got glass in my hands, but right now I didn’t give a fuck. _“YOU!”_ I screeched, lunging at him. Before I could reach him, a pair of strong arms grabbed mine and yanked me back. I yelped and twisted my head around to see who dared stop my rampage. I froze when I saw Doggo looking back at me, a mixture of sadness and anger in his eyes.

     My ears shot back against my skull, and I faced forward to see Greater Dog in front of me, a look of seriousness on his usually happy face. “No!” I yelled. “Guys, please! Listen, you don’t understand! I can explain!”

     “How could you?” a painfully familiar voice asked me, quietly cutting through everything else.

     I looked at him with pain in my expression. “Papyrus, I-“

     “Gaster told me everything,” he interrupted, “how. Could. You?”

     I was about to say something, but was again interrupted by him stepping closer and towering over me.

     His eye started glowing orange, something I’ve never seen happen. “I TRUSTED YOU!” he screamed.

     “Papyrus, please,” I said exasperatedly.

     “Take her,” Gaster ordered, making the two Canine Guards move away from the room.

     I hung my head, realizing there was no getting out of this one. I risked a look back to see Papyrus turned away from me, his shoulders shaking. Gaster’s hand was on his back, and the scientist turned his head to look at me.

     For a second before my head was shoved back to look forward, I could’ve sworn I saw Gaster’s face contort into a face-splitting smile.

<\-------≪≫------->

     Doggo and Greater Dog had taken me straight to Asgore, and he held a trial right there and then. He had called every available monster to the hearing, but nobody believed my story of Jerry being the actual culprit, since he and Gaster were the only ones to actually see everything happen. The most painful thing to bear was the look of absolute betrayal on Alphys and Undyne’s faces when I looked at them. Papyrus wasn’t there, and I tried not to think about what he was doing.

     So here I am now, sitting in a jail cell awaiting my punishment. I didn’t have my phone; no calling Ink for help. I was on my own. I had already exhausted my cell, looking for any loose bricks, a weak spot, _something._ But there was nothing. I hung my head in my hands for a few minutes until I heard footsteps coming toward me.

     I looked up to see Shyren walking toward me. She took out some keys and unlocked my cell. I sighed and stood up, allowing her to clasp a pair of metal cuffs on me. They looked a lot like the ones I had to break out of in the lab.

     She started to lead me down the hall, and I stared at the ground. Finally I spoke up. “You believe me, right?”

     She looked at me with an unreadable expression.

     I sighed. “I’ll take that as a no.” After a few more moments of silence, I spoke up again. “So, uh…what’s my punishment?”

     Something flashed in her eyes I couldn’t place. Fear, maybe? “The CORE,” she stated in her melodic voice.

     My face paled. This wasn’t going to be good.

     After a few more seconds, she suddenly stopped and opened a jail cell, gently pushing me inside.

     “Shyren? What-“

     “Shh,” she silenced me. She held a webbed hand over my chest and extracted my SOUL.

     I gasped. “What are you going to do?”

     Her gaze flickered to my face, then back to the little floating heart in her hand. She opened her mouth, and out came a song that my SOUL seemed to pulse to.

     “I remember tears streaming down your face when I said I'll never let you go…when all those shadows almost killed your light. I remember you said, don't leave me here alone, but all that's dead and gone and passed tonight… Just close your eyes; the sun is going down. You'll be alright; no one can hurt you now. Come morning light, you and I'll be safe and sound…”

     Sometime during her song, I closed my eyes and saw Kristin singing the very same song to me to calm me down from one of my fits of rage. I opened them again when Shyren carefully placed my SOUL back in its rightful place, smiling at me once she had.

     “What was that all about?” I asked.

     She said nothing, merely smiled a bit wider and tugged on my chains in a signal to get going.

     I followed her back to Asgore’s office, and she handed me over to the Canine Guards.

     “Take her to the CORE,” the king ordered.

     “The CORE?” Dogamy repeated.

     “Sir, that’s a highly unstable place,” Dogaressa agreed.

     “I know,” Asgore said, “which is why you’ll leave her there and report back to me safely.”

     “But sir-“

     _“That was an order! Now go!”_ he suddenly roared, making both guards jump and start moving toward the door.

     Just as they did, something clicked. Dogamy and Dogaressa didn’t know what my punishment was, so how did Shyren…? I looked back at her only to see her wink at me.

<\-------≪≫------->

     The two Canine Guards escorted me all the way to Hotland; I knew that because of the temperature change. They were suddenly halted by an obnoxious voice.

     “Helloooo, beauties! Might I trouble you for just a minute?”

     All three of us looked over to see Mettaton, the Nice Cream Guy, and a cat dude all coming toward us.

     “Oh god,” Dogaressa groaned, “Not him.”

     I had to groan myself. He was wearing a pink fluffy cape. A _pink! Fluffy!_ Cape.

     Guy tilted his head at me in a questioning manner, and I shrugged the best I could with my hands chained. The cat dude looked really bored.

     “What do you want, Mettaton?” Dogamy questioned, a layer of annoyance encasing his voice.

     “We’re taking this prisoner to the CORE to be eradicated,” Dogaressa added, making a shiver go down my spine at that last word.

     “Surely you can spare a few beautiful moments, can’t you?” the fabulous robot pointed a finger to his lips like he was some sort of anime chick.

     Dogamy growled irritably, and Dogaressa put a calming paw on his chest to keep him from doing something stupid.

     While dog and robot were having a miniscule spat, Guy approached me and asked, “What happened?”

     “Everybody thinks that I tried to kill Skullface,” I answered, then hurried on at his shocked expression. “But I didn’t; I swear!”

     “That’s terrible!” he leaned closer so as to not allow Dogaressa to hear his next words, “There’s gotta be some way to get you out of this.”

     “Trust me; I’ve tried reasoning. No dice,” I sighed, blowing a frustrated puff of air at the stray hairs dancing around my forehead.

     We were interrupted by the Canine Guards jerking my chains forward. “We don’t have time for your stupid filming!” Dogamy barked before yanking me forward.

     I watched ruefully as the three shocked forms – well, two; the cat dude still looked bored – got smaller in the distance.

     After a little more walking, we finally got to the CORE. The two canines opened the door and pushed me inside.

     I tried to run back toward them, but the door slammed in my face. I sighed and looked down at the heavy chains still on my wrists before turning to see the CORE in all its glory.

      There was lava everywhere. And by everywhere I mean _everywhere._ That was the first thing I noticed. I was standing at the beginning of a pathway that led up a slight hill to some sort of device on a raised platform.

     The whole thing was circle planned; it reminded me of a volcano. There were doors on the walls of the circular room, all with their own pathways leading to the device. The pathways were separated with lava. Floating in the lava were other, smaller devices that were shooting beams of electricity at the bigger one at seemingly random intervals.

     I now understood why Toriel didn’t want me to come here.

     Come to think of it, she had mentioned workers, but there was nobody around. Maybe it was break time? She had also stressed the fact that the CORE itself would try and pull me in, but nothing was happening. So far.

     Carefully, I inched closer to the largest device at the center, and as I got closer, I could see that it was a generator of sorts. Once I got close enough, I studied the control panel that was on it. Buttons of all shapes, colors, and sizes all blinked back at me as if they were saying hello, and I had to suppress a childish urge to press one just to see what it did.

     Feeling a burst of Bravery, I leaned over the edge of the platform to gaze into the glowing pit of lava below. I had never actually seen lava before, and it was mesmerizing to watch the different shades of red and orange swirl around each other in a maddening dance.

     _Well, now that I’m here, I might as well take a look around like I originally wanted to do._ I thought. Then I wondered why Asgore wanted this as my punishment in the first place. Then again, he knew I had a form of magic, so maybe he was counting on the fact that the CORE would suck me in. _So why wasn’t it…?_

     It was strange, but I didn’t question the stroke of luck and chose a random path to go down. I opened the unlocked door at the end and slipped inside, wondering just what kind of fucked up shit I might find.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well shit. I'm proud of this chapter; it's the first one in a while that shit actually happens. When I got done with it I was like:
> 
> GOOD SHIT THIS IS SOME GOOD SHIT RIGHT THERE IF I DO SAY SO MYSELF! I SAY SO! MMM WOOO! GOOD SHIT!
> 
> Also, I don't have a uniform page number expectancy anymore. Before I was all like, "Okay, gotta have eight pages, and eight pages EXACTLY!" Now it's like, "Meh, I'll write seven...or nine...or ten..." aNyway! Whoa, what happend? Ah! my tpying's gone mad! my hnds need rets! Bye bey!


	11. A/N

      *runs a mile up to you* aaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! HOOOOLLLLLLYYYYYYYYY SHHHHIIIIIIITTTTTTT!!!!!!!!

 

      ...Sorry. When was my last update, like a month ago? I have the right to remain silent...well, this is how my time has gone by (though you probably don't care lol):

 

      Christmas break was quiet, just how I like it. I had the time to read a good book called The Westing Game; it's a murder story based on...fuck it, nevermind. I'm bad at explaining things. Then I got obsessed with horror movies for a while, and I'd curl up under a blanket and binge watch A Nightmare on Elm Street for days. Fuckin' love that series. Now whenever I eat pizza with those little sausage things on it, I pick one up and say "You little meatball" just to see if anybody gets it. I can tell when someone gets it because they stop eating.

 

      New Years was not the same, unfortunately. My grandfather's birthday happens to fall on New Years Eve, so we went to his house to celebrate like every year. He kept insisting that he was turning 35. I was like, "You liar." Anyway, everything was going fine until my cousin, Nick, said something about graduating, and my grandpa, being the burn master that he is, said that he was surprised Nick even graduated. My dad laughed, and Nick called him an asshole. Dad stormed out of the house, leaving me, my sister Erin, and my Mom in the middle of an upheaval that centered around him. Nick and my other cousin, Kris, started yelling at each other and swearing and shit (I swear often, but it always upsets me when I hear someone else do it angrily. Go figure.) My _other_ cousin, six-year-old Thomas, went running into the other room and cowered in the corner with his hands over his ears. Mom and I eventually got the hell out of there and went home, only to have our own family upheaval. We worked it out eventually, but...yeah. Erin stole all of my knives that night. She said she didn't want me to start out a new year with my wrists bleeding. I joked that maybe I could ring in the new year with a bang instead. She didn't think it was funny.

 

      SO! I don't have the next chapter even started yet because I am at a loss for what I want to happen next. I know what Shyren did with Minx's SOUL, though, so don't you worry about that. But do y'all have any requests on what you want to have happen? If you do, don't keep it to yourself! I love talking to you guys, I really do. I don't want to be seen as an author that can't be reached. So just...tell me stuff. Even if it's just how your day went, I want to hear about it. Well, I wouldn't _hear_ it, but...whatever. And I'm a German, so if I ask how your day went, _I want to know how your day went._

 

      That being said, how was your day?


	12. Oh my god I can't

  I stared at the blank screen for a full five minutes before realizing what had just happened. Slowly I closed the sputtering laptop and left the room, dragging myself to Ink's room. "Ink," I said, "my computer poofed."

  He stared at me. "Poofed? As in broke?"

  "Yup."

  "As in you won't be able to write anymore?"

  "Yep."

  "Then how are you typing now?"

  "Tablet. My fingers are cramping."

  "Ehhgd...maybe Error can help?" He shrugged.

  I took a long inhale and left to see the glitchy skeleton. I came up behind him. "Sup."

  " _ **Whoa, why the long face?**_ "

  I held up the broken laptop. "This broke."

  " **Wow. You are a failure.** " Said a different voice.

  "Shut up Nightmare. It wasn't my fault. And now all of my readers have to be left oN A FUCKING CLIFFHANGER!!" My voice rose to a fever pitch. "Error, summon a wall so I can bang my head on it."

  " _ **Sorry, doesn't work that way.**_ "

  "...fine." I dropped to my knees and started banging my head on the ground, instead. "Man, and I was gonna do Aftertale next and have this emotional scene where Kristin briefly comes back and everything!"

  " **Who's Kristin?** "

  "Shut up, Nightmare! And there was gonna be an epic battle between Skullface and Gaster and GAHHHHH!! I AM SO FUCKIN' MAD! Y'know what, Imma save up money to buy a new  **funking** laptop. Oh great, now 90's trash is here, too."

  "Hey hey hey, what up mah broskies?"

  "Get outta here Fresh, you don't come until later."

  His glasses morphed to say 'Nope'.

  "Ugh." I then notice you standing there looking awkward as can be.

  "Um," You say, "So, no more Protectors?"

  I stood up and looked down at my feet, unsure of what to say. The look on your face made me sad to have to do this to you, and the words were like stones in my heart. My SOUL felt like it was going to break in two.

  But it refused.

  I raised my head to meet your eyes, a new resolve burning in mine. "Yes. There will be. I don't know when, but there will be. Once I get a new laptop and install the necessary software on it, yes. You better believe there will be. When I started this thing, I told myself it would be the first thing I wouldn't quit in the middle of. I knew it would be tough, but I was in it for the long run. Not matter what problems we face, this will continue. You better damn well believe it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And the look on your face made it worth every drop of blood, sweat, and tears I have put into this.


	13. Final A/N

Hello again...it's me. I realize now that I have no hope of continuing this story. I started this thing gun-ho, but I ran out of steam and inspiration.

That being said, I am open to other people doing spin-offs of this. I was thinking that the parasite would be in Freshtale and the series would end with a battle between Minx and Fresh!Sans, but that ultimately is now up to you guys.

I do want to thank everyone for sticking by me through my bullshittery and radio silence. I honestly didn't log on for like a year, dreading having to face what I left behind. But I'm 18 now, dammit! I need to face my old demons and kick their asses! Seriously though, thank you. From the bottom of my SOUL.

I'm sorry.

 

With that being done and over with, I decided I would respond to everyone's kind comments here all at once.

Faironiongirl added so many things and nice words, I cannot begin to properly thank you. But you did ask if the food Minx cooks with her SOUL fire heals. That's an interesting question. I think it would, just not as much as authentic monster food. Thank you for all of your support.

Taurus 666 said they were getting worried about my lack of updates and I want to thank you for your concern. I thank you for your words of encouragement.

Dask asked if Protectors was coming back. I'm deeply and truly sorry to say it's not...

Tea...oh tea...you drew a picture of Minx and I encourage everyone to go see it. Here's the link: https://partofmethatfangirls.deviantart.com/art/Minx-from-The-Protectors-series-by-Katrallis-747148607  I saw it and literally squealed. No one's ever done fan art for me, and it. Looks. AWESOME! THank yoU! And don't run yourself down on your artistic ability. You are an amazing artist and I hope you come to believe that too.

 

Ok, that's done, and well...I guess this is goodbye. I don't plan on quitting writing, oh HELL no. Just not this one. The next time I take on something big like this, I'll either make it shorter or write it all out before uploading a single chapter so I don't have to do this to you guys again. I'm sincerely sorry for not being able to continue this, but I can't keep kidding myself.

 

Thank you, everyone, for sticking with me this long. I wish you luck in everything you do, whatever fate may choose for you. 

 

May death find you alive.


End file.
